Financial system in Australia
Participants in the financial system consist of commercial banks, investment banks, finance companies, building or cooperative societies, credit unions, friendly societies, non bank financial institutions (NBFI), superannuation and approved deposit funds, public unit trusts, cash management trusts, mortgage originators, insurance companies, institutional funds investing in and financing debt.
In 2014, the cost of processing cheques was the highest of all modes of payments at $5 per transaction, compared to about $0.20 for direct debits.
EFTPOS (Electronic Fund Transfer Point of Sale) and ATM transactions (also called CS3)[9] occur over the EFT network.
Several credit card systems are active in Australia including MasterCard, Visa, Diners Club and American Express.
BPAY is a bill payment system used in Australia, which is regulated by the four major banks and not by AusPayNet.
As of January 2015, the BPAY payments system covered more than 156 participating Australian banks, credit unions and financial institutions.
[10] More than 45,000 businesses accept payments using BPAY[10] and each month approximately 30 million bills are paid to the value of $24 billion.
The NPP was developed via industry collaboration to enable households, businesses and government agencies to make simply addressed payments, with near real-time funds availability to the recipient, on a 24/7 basis.
ASIC has responsibility for market integrity and consumer protection and the regulation of certain financial institutions (including investment banks and finance companies or NBFI).
APRA is responsible for the licensing and prudential supervision of ADIs (banks, building societies, credit unions, friendly societies and participants in certain credit card schemes and certain purchaser payment facilities), life and general insurance companies and superannuation funds.
They may be required to obtain licences under the Corporations Act 2001 or other Commonwealth or state legislation, depending on the nature of their business activities in Australia.
Businesses providing financial products and services are required to identify and monitor customers using a risk-based approach, develop and maintain a compliance program, report suspicious matters and certain cash transactions and file annual compliance reports.
