The vision for account-to-account payments in Australia

A2A vision > Executive summary

1. Executive summary 

Australia’s account‑to‑account (A2A) payments system is a critical national asset fundamental to Australia’s economic productivity, resilience and global competitiveness. Every day, millions of Australian consumers, businesses and government agencies (collectively referred to as ‘end-users’) rely on A2A payments for their financial activities, including the payment of wages, superannuation, welfare, taxes, dividends, bills, and transfers of money to family and friends.  

A2A payments made by end-users are typically completed in online banking or mobile banking environments provided by financial institutions such as banks, credit unions and payment service providers (PSPs). Business and government users may also use third-party interfaces such as their accounting, payroll or enterprise resource planning software. Currently, payments are cleared by one of three underlying clearing streams – the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS), the High-Value Clearing System (HVCS) and the New Payments Platform (NPP) – with the movement of funds between the paying and receiving financial institutions settled through the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). In the future, the underlying infrastructure may also include new mechanisms for clearing and settlement enabled by emerging digital technologies (such as digital money and tokenised forms of value). 

The A2A payments environment is evolving rapidly, driven by advances in technology – such as artificial intelligence (including agentic AI), digital assets and digital identity. The integration of new digital technologies into the payments system is altering end-user behaviour and A2A payment flows, for example, by embedding transactions into broader digital functionality and processes. At the same time, the operating environment for the payments industry is becoming more complex and challenging because of growing geopolitical uncertainty, fraud and cyber threats. Societal expectations of payments experiences are also adjusting as end-users and public authorities respond to changes in the technology and risk environment.  

The A2A payments system must adapt to these external forces so that it remains fit for purpose as a trusted national asset and is capable of supporting future opportunities and challenges.

A shared vision across industry regulatorsand end-users for the desired future state of A2A payments is essential to achieving this aim. It will provide certainty to stakeholders on the long-term strategic direction for A2A payments, and anchor the industry’s development of A2A products, services and underlying infrastructure. The vision will also support alignment between industry-led initiatives and broader public policy priorities, ensuring Australia’s payments system continues to evolve in a coordinated manner to support innovation, productivity and economic growth.

The vision should serve as a clear and enduring reference point for A2A payments for years to come. 

Account-to-account payments vision  

A trusted A2A payments system that meets the evolving needs of consumers, businesses and government agencies, supporting resilience, competition, innovation and productivity in the Australian economy. 

End-user objectives 

The A2A payments vision is centred on five end-user objectives – that is, outcomes that consumers, businesses and government agencies expect when sending or receiving A2A payments:  

• Safe: A2A payments must inspire confidence – end-users can trust that protections are in place to keep their money and information safe.
• Reliable: A2A payments must be dependable – end-users can trust that payments will be processed correctly, at the expected time and to the intended recipient.  
• Affordable: A2A payments must be affordable for end-users, with low-cost options for everyday and essential payments, and enhanced features providing clear value for money. Pricing for end-users must be competitively set, predictable and transparent.
• Easy to use: A2A payments must be intuitive and efficient – end-users can pay or be paid, whenever they choose, with simple steps for consumers, smooth integration into business and government digital processes, and consistent, transparent outcomes across providers.
• Inclusive: A2A payments must be widely available with adequate support for all end-users who wish to use them, genuine choice of providers or services and the ability to switch between them with minimal friction. 
  
  

System characteristics 

To consistently deliver on these end-user objectives, the future A2A payments system – that is, the products, services and infrastructure collectively used to process A2A payments – must demonstrate six characteristics:  

• Secure and protected: A2A payments must protect funds, data, end-users and payment providers through robust and proportionate risk-based safeguards, supported by clear rules, technical standards and operational processes.
• Highly available and resilient: A2A payments must be highly available with the risk of service disruptions addressed through a range of resilience measures, in-built redundancy, and clear contingency arrangements, in both normal and stressed conditions. Measures and arrangements must be aligned to system stability and national interest considerations to support the resilience of the economy.
• Feature and capability rich: A2A payments must support a broad range of payment functions while enabling value-added features as end-user needs evolve over time and new technologies, business models and use cases emerge.
• Accessible for providers: A2A payments must support broad access and participation arrangements, enabling different types of payment providers (including non-ADIs) to access clearing and settlement infrastructure and compete on terms that reflect their activities and risk profiles.
• Commercially viable: A2A payments must support appropriate sustainable economic models for system participants, with competitive and transparent costs for participating and investing collaboratively. How commercial viability is achieved may vary across schemes, participant types, services and use cases.
• Appropriately standardised: A2A payments must achieve an appropriate degree of standardisation through the application of common rules, requirements, formats and processes. Standardisation should focus on areas of the system where fragmentation would undermine safety or reliability, or where consistency, interoperability and the achievement of network effects would generate broad benefits. These benefits can be both within a particular payment scheme or service, or across multiple payment schemes. 
  
  

Governance 

Strong governance is essential to the effective stewardship of the A2A payments system and ensures the system operates in the public interest. A streamlined and collaborative governance framework – operating across both industry-wide and clearing scheme levels – is intended to define clear accountabilities, align stakeholders and support coordinated achievement of the A2A payments vision.

Participation in this governance process must be inclusive and representative of the broader payments ecosystem. This includes non-ADI participants, smaller ADIs, fintechs, payment service providers and technology providers. Public sector involvement is also important to provide strategic oversight and safeguard the public interest. Governance should align with legal, regulatory and policy frameworks.

Transparency, performance monitoring, and regular reporting are needed to maintain accountability. Together, these elements will help ensure the A2A payments system remains a trusted national asset that delivers long-term value for the Australian economy.  

Delivering the vision 

The A2A payments vision defines the desired end-user outcomes and future state for A2A payments. It does not prescribe the specific products, services or underlying infrastructure that will be required to achieve these desired outcomes, nor the timeframe over which they would be implemented.   

Developing a clear A2A payments roadmap is the critical next step towards achieving the vision. The roadmap phase will: align stakeholders on specific objectives and priorities – a desired future state – for A2A payments; identify and assess options for achieving the desired future state; and determine the sequencing of initiatives and the appropriate governance arrangements required to deliver the desired future state over agreed time horizons. 

This process will involve establishing shared positions on key topics such as: resilience, contingency and interoperability requirements; capabilities required to support key payment use cases; security and consumer protection requirements; areas where standardisation would be most beneficial; and access and participation frameworks. Proprietary plans for the individual A2A clearing schemes, including BECS and NPP, will also be included. 

The A2A payments roadmap will encompass:  

• in-principle agreements on milestones, implementation timelines and transition approaches
• identifying shared risks and key dependencies
• developing appropriate mechanisms to balance competing priorities and trade-offs
• establishing success measures for the delivery of the A2A payments vision over agreed time horizons, with transparent monitoring and reporting processes
• clarifying the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in delivering the A2A payments vision, including those of the public sector 
  
  

The A2A payments roadmap will also identify governance and coordination arrangements required to achieve the A2A payments vision, at both an industry-wide and clearing scheme level, including in relation to consultation and reporting mechanisms, and the development of standards. 

With an A2A payments roadmap in place, banks and PSPs will be able to develop and deliver proprietary plans for their own products and services, customer propositions and technology investments, retaining their flexibility to innovate and compete. 

The A2A payments roadmap will be developed collaboratively in 2026 through the A2A Payments Roundtable process, under authorisation¹ by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The execution of the industry roadmap is expected to require industry governance and coordination mechanisms, subject to ACCC authorisation. 

The development of the A2A payments roadmap may identify areas where the A2A payments vision would benefit from greater clarity or refinement. Should this occur, an updated A2A payments vision will be issued alongside the A2A payments roadmap.   

[1] The ACCC authorisation enables AusPayNet, AP+, members of BECS, members of the NPP and other industry stakeholders to engage in discussions and share information for the purpose of developing a common industry vision regarding the future of account-to-account payments infrastructure in Australia, and to reach in-principle agreement as to how that desired future state should be achieved. The RBA and Commonwealth Treasury are also involved in these discussions