SYDNEY, March 15 (Reuters) - Australia's central bank has not yet decided whether to regulate a further reduction in the transaction fees charged by credit card companies, a top official said on Monday.
Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey told a payments conference it was not yet clear whether competition in the card industry would be enough to ensure lower fees without regulation.
Last August, the central bank deferred a decision on whether to regulate a further reduction in credit card fees to 30 basis points, from the current 50 basis points.
Edey said the RBA was a reluctant regulator and would prefer to step back from fee regulation if it could be reasonably satisfied that this was not going to result in the fees going back up again.
But the RBA was still of the view that, while good progress was being made by the industry, it was not yet enough to provide sufficient confidence that fees would be held down in the absence of direct regulation, Edey said.
'I know that many of you involved in the industry would like me to give some predictions or clues about what the Board's next decision on these matters might be,' said Edey. 'I'm not in a position to make that kind of prediction today.'
Edey noted there were roughly 40 million debit cards on issue in Australia, and around 20 million credit and charge cards.
On those cards, nearly 10 million transactions are made every day, with a daily value of around one billion dollars, or about half the size of household consumption.
That meant the efficiency of the card system was of importance to the economy, said Edey.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Balazs Koranyi) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) Keywords: AUSTRALIA PAYMENTS/ (wayne.cole@reuters.com ; +61 2 9373 1813; Reuters Messaging: wayne.cole.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor Malcolm Edey told a payments conference it was not yet clear whether competition in the card industry would be enough to ensure lower fees without regulation.
Last August, the central bank deferred a decision on whether to regulate a further reduction in credit card fees to 30 basis points, from the current 50 basis points.
Edey said the RBA was a reluctant regulator and would prefer to step back from fee regulation if it could be reasonably satisfied that this was not going to result in the fees going back up again.
But the RBA was still of the view that, while good progress was being made by the industry, it was not yet enough to provide sufficient confidence that fees would be held down in the absence of direct regulation, Edey said.
'I know that many of you involved in the industry would like me to give some predictions or clues about what the Board's next decision on these matters might be,' said Edey. 'I'm not in a position to make that kind of prediction today.'
Edey noted there were roughly 40 million debit cards on issue in Australia, and around 20 million credit and charge cards.
On those cards, nearly 10 million transactions are made every day, with a daily value of around one billion dollars, or about half the size of household consumption.
That meant the efficiency of the card system was of importance to the economy, said Edey.
(Reporting by Wayne Cole; Editing by Balazs Koranyi) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) Keywords: AUSTRALIA PAYMENTS/ (wayne.cole@reuters.com ; +61 2 9373 1813; Reuters Messaging: wayne.cole.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.