In some ways this is an awkward time to be giving a speech on card payments. As you know, the Reserve Bank Payments System Board has been conducting a comprehensive review of its regulation in this area. That review is now nearing completion. It is expected to be finalised at the Board’s next meeting, which will take place next week.
Obviously I can’t pre-empt any decisions that might come out of that meeting. Instead what I would like to do is offer a kind of curtain-raiser, by summarising the history of the review and the way it has unfolded to date. I plan to do that under three headings: the background, the issues and the process.