Ina Steiner writes for AuctionBytes.com about new developments as eBay moves forward with plans to mandate PayPal on sellers in Australia. She cites several submissions to the inquiry into the practice being conducted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has made comments to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's inquiry into eBay's recent announcement that it would mandate the use of PayPal for payments on eBay's Australian site. The RBA comments: 'The proposed conduct by eBay is to mandate the use of PayPal for almost all transactions on the eBay site. This raises three potential issues in relation to the payments system. The first is that it could limit the ability of new on-line payment systems to become established and for alternative systems to compete in the on-line payments space. The second is that it could restrict merchants' ability to negotiate lower fees. And the third is that it restricts choice for consumers.' More in the RBA's full submission. Also, CNN reports on eBay's move.

We mentioned the Pen or PIN program in Australia earlier today. The Pen or PIN website includes several resources explaining what's happening including a general backgrounder, one for retailers, another for cardholders, and an FAQ for media. "From 4 June 2008, most American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard and Visa cardholders will have the choice to use a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to authorise transactions when using these cards in person. The introduction of PIN on these cards follows an industry-wide collaboration involving all major banks, financial institutions and card schemes operating in Australia."

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the "Pen or PIN" project underway in Australia that will allow shoppers using credit cards to either sign their receipts as they've always done or choose to use a PIN instead beginning June 4. A spokesman said: 'The introduction of PIN on credit and debit cards will give cardholders a quick and easy alternative to signature authorisation when making purchases in person.' Meanwhile, the Herald Sun reports that a consumer group is concerned that a move to PINs 'could result in consumers being unable to dispute credit charges.' More details here.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released preliminary conclusions from its 2007/08 review of the payments system reforms undertaken by the Payments System Board. The Bank is now seeking submissions on these conclusions, before finalising the review later in the year.   » Continue Reading

The Reserve Bank of Australia has published the Proceedings from its Payments Systems Review Conference held last November. 'The conference was designed to bring together a wide range of parties to discuss the reforms of recent years and how best to move forward. It was attended by around 90 invited participants, drawn from financial institutions, payment schemes, industry bodies, merchants, consultants, academia and public policy institutions.' The table of contents of the proceedings is here.

In an article titled 'ANZ starts rush to mobile banking', Mahesh Sharma writes for Australian IT 'ANZ is set to become the first bank in Australia to launch a mobile phone banking service and its competitors are expected to follow suit soon.' ANZ's offering will include both SMS-based information services as well as a Java-based mobile handset application.

ViVOtech has announced that its "ViVOnfc infrastructure software for Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile phone payments is being used by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its first NFC mobile phone payment launch in conjunction with MasterCard at the MasterCard Masters Golf Tournament."   » Continue Reading

As part of its2007–08 review of the reforms to Australia's payments system, the Reserve Bank of Australia co-hosted a Payments Systems Review Conference (several papers available for download) today in conjunction with the Centre for Business and Public Policy at the Melbourne Business School.   » Continue Reading

The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has published its Annual Report (PDF) covering its activities for 2006 and 2007. The report devotes a full chapter to the Card Payments Systems - noting that "much of the Board’s effort has been devoted to improving efficiency and competition in Australia’s retail payments system, particularly the card-based systems" and, especially, interchange fees.   » Continue Reading