The Reserve Bank has released an Issues Paper as the first stage of its Review of Retail Payments Regulation, which will take place over the coming year.

The Issues Paper discusses and seeks stakeholder views on a number of potential issues that could be covered by the Review, including some recommendations made in reports by the Productivity Commission and the Black Economy Taskforce in relation to interchange fees, merchant service fees and least-cost routing of dual-network debit card transactions. The Issues Paper also discusses surcharging and ‘no-surcharge’ rules, and issues relating to digital wallets and tokenisation of payments.

Other issues identified include:

• the future role of cash;
• the future of the cheques system;
• the future of the direct entry system;
• arrangements for the management of direct debits;
• possible issuance of an electronic form of banknotes.