Australian Financial Review: Card fund seems a smart move

Ben Woodhead reports in the Australian Financial Review on plans to create a common fund among the Australian banks to pay for technology upgrades.

The fund would share upgrade costs among Australian banks using a model already adopted in Asia, marking a significant departure from the present approach, under which each bank finances modifications to its own payment systems. Credit card giant Visa will formally propose the new model to Australian banks soon as part of discussions about the new investment required to support the shift to more secure smartcard payments in the next few years. Adding pressure to the discussions is an emerging threat from card companies Eurocard, Mastercard and Visa, which have suggested that Australian banks become liable for credit card fraud after 2006 - giving the banks greater incentive to implement more secure cards.