Care needed with payments regulation: RBA

24 Aug 2012, 3:27 pm   -   Source: AAP

RBA governor Glenn Stevens says any intervention into the current cards payment system should be done with caution.

Public policy makers needed to take a careful approach to any regulation of the card payment system, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

RBA governor Glenn Stevens told a House of Representatives Economic Committee on Friday that there was no obvious need to intervene in the current system, and that EFTPOS offered the cheapest option at the moment.

"Other parties have the right to offer their products and consumers will use them," he said.

"We're just alert to having a situation where the cheapest system won't be used because other parties bind the way things are used."

Mr Stevens said that while it was important to have competition relating to fees and costs, it was up to consumers to choose the best method for themselves.

"I think it's in the interest of the country to have more than one scheme competing," he said.

"But public policy makers need to be careful in terms of how they make interventions."E

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube