Description of Conduct
On 7 May 2025, Australian Payments Network Limited (AusPayNet) lodged an application for authorisation on behalf of itself and members of the Issuers and Acquirers Community (IAC Members). Authorisation is sought to enable AusPayNet and IAC Members to:
- make and give effect to agreements on certain aspects of a program of work to migrate the Australian card payments system to Advanced Encryption Standard
- share information to monitor progress, report issues and develop solutions to issues pertaining to the above agreements for the sole purpose of facilitating an effective migration to the Advanced Encryption Standard.
The Advanced Encryption Standard is a cryptographic algorithm intended to protect sensitive card payment data during transmission and storage. AusPayNet submitted that Advanced Encryption Standard is widely recognised as a more secure cryptographic algorithm than Triple Data Encryption Standard, which is the standard that is widely used in the Australian card payments system.
Authorisation was sought for 8 years.
On 14 August 2025, the ACCC issued a draft determination proposing to grant authorisation for 8 years.
On 25 September 2025, the ACCC issued a final determination granting authorisation until 24 September 2033.
Copies of the ACCC’s draft determination and final determination are available below.
Applicant(s)
- AUSTRALIAN PAYMENTS NETWORK LIMITED
Applications
| Document title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| Application |
Decisions
| Document title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| Final Determination | ||
| Draft Determination |
Consultations
ACCC correspondence
| Document title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| ACCC to Interested Parties re Decision |
Submissions - before draft decision
| Document title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| AusPayNet – response to ACCC information request | ||
| Reserve Bank of Australia |
Submissions - after draft decision
| Document title | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| AusPayNet – response to ACCC information request |