Kia ora koutou
Since our last update, the next generation payments team have completed stakeholder engagement for the foundational design phase, finalised the draft for Chapter 2 of the Industry Strategic Investment Case (ISIC) and planned the next phase of the programme.
The focus of our next phase, which runs until March 2024, is to work with the industry to refine our proposed design and understand how the delivery of next generation capabilities could be sequenced, including an indicative timeline for the availability of these capabilities.
As part of this sequencing activity, we will also be giving specific consideration to how we can leverage the modularity of a next generation system to prioritise the delivery of enhanced customer protections capabilities, such as real-time fraud prevention, payee identification, improved consent and authentication management and digital identity.
In this update, we’ll provide you with an overview of the programme and discuss how we’ll be progressing our three key workstreams – Ecosystem design, Governance and Engagement.
Q3 programme highlights
In Q3, the project team focused on project planning and startup activities for the next phase of the programme through to March 2024 and we initiated engagement with Participants, Members and Te Pūtea Matua – the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). To date, we have:
- Finalised Chapters 1 and 2 of the ISIC.
- Received Payments NZ Board approval for the next phase of activity through to March 2024.
- Set up a framework for business and technical working groups to support the programme and called for nominations for these groups.
- Presented an overview of the programme to the New Zealand Banking Association (NZBA) Council, with an emphasis on ways our work can support their fraud prevention efforts.
- Worked on positioning statements to guide the design, governance and ongoing operation of the next generation platform.
- Started developing a request-for-information (RFI) from vendors to help the industry understand the scale and order of magnitude of the change.
Industry strategic investment case summaries available
Summaries of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of the ISIC are now available to view.
The ISIC sets out the case for change and presents an initial design, grounded in real-time payments capability that can act as a key foundational component of a wider strategic payments modernisation programme, as envisaged by the 2020 Payments Modernisation Plan. Specifically:
- Chapter 1 of the ISIC discusses payments modernisation developments globally and the reasons why investment in this space is critical.
- Chapter 2 of the ISIC presents an initial foundational ecosystem concept design, grounded in real-time payments capability. It will provide a starting point for discussions and further engagement.
- Chapter 3 of the ISIC will be available in Q2 2024 and will build on the design, proposed governance arrangements and set out formal recommendations outlining the business case for detailed design, sequencing and delivery.
Programme overview
We are currently focusing on the delivery of three key workstreams – Ecosystem Design, Governance and Engagement - which will provide the payments industry with the information required for them to make a decision by March 2024.
Ecosystem design
The ecosystem design workstream will focus on two areas of activity that will build on and refine the foundational design proposed in Chapter 2 of the ISIC, they include:
- Interoperability: considers how the next generation ecosystem will interact with the existing payments system and regulatory landscape, which will then inform the scope and prioritisation of capabilities.
- System design: involves creating a framework to iteratively build on the ecosystem design. Once finalised, this work will:
- Outline the design components.
- Propose the functionality scope and sequencing of a next generation platform two phases – Day 1 and Day 2.
- Identify capabilities, such as fraud detection, that could be delivered ahead of the core platform, in response to current industry needs.
- Identify capabilities that could be added to a future implementation roadmap.
Governance
This workstream is also split into two areas which involves:
- Identifying the optimal governance and operational arrangements for the next generation system; and
- Developing a recommendation on the delivery structures required to deliver the system from the current initiation phase to the agreed governance and ownership model.
The Principles for Financial Management Infrastructure (PFMI) developed by the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) will serve as a basis for best practice governance. In addition, we’ve begun working on a series of positioning statements that will guide the governance arrangements and can be used as a starting point for stakeholder engagement.
Engagement
During this phase of work our focus is on engaging with decision makers and regulators, and establishing working groups to assist the programme.
Our engagement activity will help to refine the foundational design and seek to understand industry readiness to move forward with a next generation ecosystem build. We are centering our engagement activity on areas that support upcoming decision points:
- Scope and sequencing of core infrastructure components.
- Access and participation, including minimum standards, dispute resolution and liability.
- Management of Settlement and settlement risk.
- Cost recovery (pricing) considerations and commercial arrangements.
Shortly, we will begin setting up meetings with Participant decision makers to give them an overview of the programme, including the proposed design scope, the opportunities to leverage the modular approach for prioritisation and delivery, and the proposed governance arrangements and delivery structures.
Our engagement with regulators will ensure we develop fit-for-purpose governance structures and that our work is aligned with upcoming regulatory initiatives.
We have commenced ongoing engagement with the RBNZ, and plan to further progress discussions relating to strategy, governance and risk, and the operational aspects of settlement.
Additional engagement is planned with Te Komihana Tauhokohoko – Commerce Commission and Hīkina Whakatutuki - Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, in conjunction with the Payments NZ API Centre team.
Industry groups
We’ll be setting up a strategic design group to be made up of SMEs and thought leaders from across the payments industry to challenge and test our thinking, provide strategic, operational, and business input and guidance.
We’ve also established a Business and a Technical working group, made up of representatives from our Participant, Member and API Standards User organisations. These groups will focus on iteratively developing the design and providing input into the scope and prioritisation of capabilities.
Invitations to join the two working groups have been sent to Participants and Members and we expect initial meetings to commence in November.
Want to know more?
Should you have any questions about this update or the next generation payments programme, please contact the project team at [email protected].