The payment system is also a critical component of the financial system. It contains the pipelines that connect the banks and other financial intermediaries. And it provides the means by which vast numbers of transactions - personal and corporate, domestic and overseas - are made each day.
The payment system involves many different components, including systems for settling large, inter-bank and inter-corporate payment transactions, and systems for handling myriads of smaller transactions, such as cheques, credit cards, direct debits and EFTPOS. Each system is managed by a payment operator. Some are private companies owned by the banks, while others are under the management of the Reserve Bank.