Media Release Number 2013-22: The Reserve Bank and the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) are initiating a joint consultation on a proposal to establish a new payments industry coordination body, the Australian Payments Council. The proposed Council will be a senior-level body capable of taking a strategic perspective on issues of importance to the payments system, as well as engaging in a dialogue on those issues with the Payments System Board. In conjunction with the establishment of the Payments Council, the Reserve Bank will also launch a new User Consultation Group. This will provide a more structured mechanism for users of the payments system to express views on payments system issues as an input to the Reserve Bank’s policy formulation process.