At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 3.25 per cent.

Media Release Number 2012-32: The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Reserve Bank of Australia are releasing a Report on the Australian OTC Derivatives Market – October 2012.

Media Release Number 2012-31: The RBA is introducing new criteria for eligibility of residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS) in its operations. Issuers of RMBS will be required to provide more detailed information than is currently the case. The new information, which will have to be kept up to date, covers both transaction-related data as well as information on the underlying assets.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent, effective 3 October 2012.

Media Release Number 2012-29: The Reserve Bank is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 RBA/ESA Economics Competition for Australian undergraduate university students. The essay competition was run in conjunction with the Economic Society of Australia (ESA) and the UNSW Economics Society.

Media Release Number 2012-28: Response to The Australian regarding Next Generation Banknotes.

Media Release Number 2012-27: A core function of the Bank is to issue secure banknotes. Australia has one of the safest and most secure currencies in the world. It has experienced relatively low levels of counterfeiting for many years. To ensure that this remains the case, the Bank continually researches new anti-counterfeit technologies and developments in banknote design. In addition, over recent years, the Bank has had in place a program to upgrade the security of Australia’s banknotes.

Media Release Number 2012-26: The RBA has issued a media release concerning Note Printing Australia Limited and Securency International Pty Ltd.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 3.50 per cent.

At its meeting on 17 August, the Payments System Board decided to vary the Access Regime for the ATM System. The variation extends the Bank’s powers to grant exemptions for ATM arrangements that would otherwise be counter to the interchange provisions in the Access Regime. Following this decision, the Board has also decided to grant an exemption to an arrangement proposed by ATM industry participants that will help reduce the high expenditure on ATM fees by residents of selected very remote Indigenous communities.