A major review of Australia’s payment system has been well received by industry players, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says.

RBA head of payments policy Tony Richards says the Strategic Review of Innovation in the Payments System – had garnered mainly positive feedback since its release in June.

“Most of the industry has said the objectives are reasonably ambitious but achievable,” he said in a presentation in Sydney on Wednesday.

“There has been strong support for the board’s objectives on real time payments – the timetable, the centralised hub architecture, the inclusion of more remittance information.

“More specifically, all respondents have agreed with the need for a fast payments initiative, with immediate funds availability to recipients on a 24/7 basis.”

The RBA announced plans for the review in May 2010, saying it wanted to identify ways to improve the Australian payments system.

The central bank announced the conclusions of its review in June, featuring five key objectives it wants in place between 2013 and 2017.

They include same-day settlement of all direct payments by the end of 2013, the ability to make real-time payments by the end of 2016 and the ability to make and receive low-value payments outside normal bank hours by late 2016.

Dr Richards said the review aimed to provide greater flexibility within the payments system.

“The decision to undertake the review did not reflect the view that there had been no innovation in the payments system in Australia,” he said.

“Reaching agreement on innovation in this areas can sometimes be very difficult for various reasons, including the fact that different financial institutions have different business mixes and investment cycles, which gives them different incentives.

“So what the in the payment system board has done in the review is try to find ways to help the industry achieve cooperative outcomes both more easily and in ways that are in the public interest.”