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New Zealand Central Bank Moves to Modernize Outdated Retail Payments System

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The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is exploring ways to modernize the country's outdated retail payments system, which handles an annual payments volume of around NZ$2 trillion, the central bank said Tuesday.

Given that scale, even small efficiency improvements can boost national productivity, improve the global competitiveness of local businesses, and strengthen the country's economic resilience, said Assistant Governor Karen Silk.

The central bank has created two workstreams to pursue the modernization. The first of them will examine the technical requirements needed to update infrastructure, while the second one will focus on reforming strategic leadership, regulatory coordination, and system governance across the system.

"Key strategic questions include whether to continue pursuing incremental reform or to undertake structural modernization of the underlying payments infrastructure to build long-term capability and strengthen resilience," the RBNZ said.

The central bank is seeking feedback on the issues it has identified through a consultation period that runs until Oct. 27.

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