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Electronic payments on the rise - RBA
March 14, 2006 - 3:04PM

Australia's march toward a cashless society will continue although the future form of the domestic payments system remains unclear,according to the central bank.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) assistant governor Philip Lowe said the global shift towards electronic payments was being driven by advances in technology and the lower cost of electronic payments.

"It is fair to say that few people are in any doubt this shift will continue for many years to come," Mr Lowe said in an address to a payments system conference in Melbourne.

"However, while the big picture is pretty clear, there is much less certainty about how various individual methods of electronic payment are likely to evolve - which methods will be the winners and which will be the losers."

He said recent advances in technology had failed to translate into substantial changes in payment systems.

"For much of the past decade or so - including at the time of the Wallis Inquiry - there have been numerous claims that smart cards or electronic purses were about to replace cash for many payments," Mr Lowe said.

"Yet, while there have been some advances, relatively little has happened."

And while use of the internet for banking had grown by much more than was originally anticipated in the mid-1990s, there were still significant market restrictions with the technology.

This included the limited options for making online payments.

"Currently, if you want to buy goods and services over the internet you have little option other than to use your credit card or signature debit card," he said.

"Many businesses, and I dare say consumers, would like to be able to have an online EFTPOS-like payment option as well. In a number of other countries this option is now available."

© 2006 AAP