While the details are yet to be worked out -- by the RBA in this case -- two prerequisites for ESA access will be:  •  no reduction in the safety and stability of the payments system; and  •  access only for institutions which provide, or propose to provide, extensive third party transactions (as opposed to companies making transactions on their own account).
Again, we are not talking “free-for-all”, but we are talking a markedly broader range of payments opportunities for non-traditional players. A second change is that the RBA will have regulatory power over widely-used stored-value instruments -- such as cards, internet tokens and even travellers cheques -- where their issuer is not a licensed deposit-taker.