The Reserve Bank’s review of payments systems and surcharging is tilting strongly towards costs rather than benefits, notably the ever increasing need for higher tech security.
It's a skew that major players — particularly the payments schemes that make the major investments in security — argue could see reduced investment and ultimately higher risks and costs for business and consumers.
Speaking with Capital Brief, Johan Gerber, Mastercard’s global head of security solutions, said the focus by regulators and governments on costs above security and innovation was “our biggest concern and why you see us in conversations with so many regulators around the world”.
Visa Australia CEO Alan Machet said enhanced security was especially necessary to enable safe cross-border transactions and investment needed to be funded for technology to monitor and prevent fraud and manage risk, including "zero liability" for fraudulent transactions, chargeback processing and cybersecurity capabilities.
