Australian Payments Plus (AP+) has welcomed the Reserve Bank of Australia’s annual update on its 2025 Risk Assessment into the decommissioning of the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS), which notes the progress made and underscores the importance of maintaining industry momentum as Australia modernises its account-to-account (A2A) payments system.
“The 2025 Risk Assessment brought clarity to the path ahead and helped align the industry around the key areas of focus required to ensure a smooth transition,” said AP+ CEO Lynn Kraus.
The RBA’s primary recommendation from the 2025 Risk Assessment was the need for industry to develop a shared vision and strategic objectives for the future of the A2A payments system.
“Over the past 12 months, substantial progress has been made in developing a shared vision for A2A payments, in consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders. A draft vision will be published for feedback in April 2026, followed by a final report and detailed roadmap later this year," added Kraus.
Work is progressing across other priority areas identified in last year’s Risk Assessment, including bulk payment capability, contingency arrangements, account reach and PayTo. Much of this work has been ongoing since early 2024, when AP+ commenced its extensive program of work to ensure the NPP has the capability, capacity, reach and resilience to easily handle the expected growth in volumes.
Adoption of real-time payments continues to broaden across business and government sectors. Businesses are increasingly recognising that modern, data-rich payments infrastructure delivers benefits beyond speed – including improved reconciliation, stronger fraud monitoring and detection capability, and enhanced operational efficiency. According to research from Coalition Greenwich, nearly a third of large corporates already have a plan to transition to modern payment systems such as the NPP*.
Structural reforms such as payday super further reinforce the need for infrastructure capable of supporting real-time, data-rich payments.
AP+ will continue to work closely with regulators, industry participants and end users to support a resilient, modern and future-ready A2A payments system for Australia.
* Coalition Greenwich Voice of Client 2025 Australia Large Corporate Transactional Banking Study. Includes the top 600 businesses with over $500mn annual turnover in the Australian market.
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