Consultation on Proposed Variation to the Access Regime for the ATM System May 2012

The Reserve Bank's Payments System Board is initiating a public consultation on a proposal to vary the Access Regime for the ATM System.

The Board believes that the proposed variation will promote the public interest and the efficiency of the payments system by providing the Reserve Bank with greater flexibility to grant exemptions for ATM arrangements that would otherwise be prohibited by the interchange fee provisions of the Access Regime. It is anticipated that this flexibility could be used to facilitate the recently announced scheme to reduce the sizeable expenditure on ATM fees by residents of very remote Indigenous communities – an issue that was identified as a key concern by a joint Treasury/Reserve Bank ATM Taskforce. Accordingly, the Board is seeking the views of interested parties on the proposed variation.