The Reserve Bank of Australia today released an update on the progress made by the payments industry over the past year against the recommendations outlined in the risk assessment on the proposed decommissioning of the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS).
The RBA welcomes the industry’s efforts over the past year to implement the recommendations of the risk assessment, particularly in relation to increased industry coordination and direct engagement with end-users. In December 2025, AusPayNet announced it was removing the June 2030 target end date for BECS until a clear roadmap for the future of account-to-account (A2A) payments in Australia is developed. As a result, the near-term risks associated with a random transition away from the BECS are largely reduced.
Nevertheless, the RBA’s risk assessment update highlights that several areas of risk remain, and others have emerged more prominently. Key stakeholders in the A2A ecosystem have highlighted insufficient consensus within the industry about the modern agenda for A2A payments, particularly on how to best process bulk payments in the future. This hinders the decision-making and analysis necessary to move forward with A2A payments. As a result, the industry risks losing the momentum necessary to modernize A2A payments. If industry participants are unable to make coherent progress on modernizing A2A payments, the RBA will take further action to achieve outcomes in the public interest.
