Australia Seeks Answers About Online-Payments Progress

TheAustralian Payments Clearing Association says it will decide  laterthis month whether the country's payments industry has made progress inoffering consumers more choices for online payments. The association,which is owned by financial institutions and sets rules for clearingand settlement of payments, hopes to release its final decision on 21Aug., according to a statement this week from the group. Theassociation's actions follow a threat earlier this year from theReserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank, that it mightuse its regulatory powers to force more standardization and innovationin the country's electronic-payments infrastructure (CardLine Global,26 March). Australia's electronic-payment system "has essentiallyremained unchanged since its establishment in the 1980s," GlennStevens, the central bank's governor, said during a speech at the time."Left to their own devices, [payment] networks may stop short of anefficient level of cooperation," Stevens said.  (Continue Reading)

Editor's Note:  Speaking of "left to their own devices"...it's time to allow consumers to be left to theirs!