Now lawMoney & Tax Introduced in the House of Representatives, 30 Jul 2025

Payment rules now cover digital wallets and stablecoins

Australia's law on payment systems was more than 20 years old. This law widens it to cover new ways to pay. It lets the government step in for the good of the nation, and it adds bigger fines.

Official name: Treasury Laws Amendment (Payments System Modernisation) Bill 2025

Who it affects

• Digital wallet and buy now pay later companies: They can now be given rules under the payments law, just like card companies and banks.
• Companies that handle stablecoins or crypto payments: Payments made with digital units of value are now covered by the law.
• Card companies like American Express: Systems run by just one company now count as payment systems.
• Shops that only sell goods: Normal shops are not meant to be caught unless they run payment services themselves.
• Shoppers: Watchdogs can now set rules for more of the ways people pay.

A 1998 payments law

Each time you tap a card or a phone, money moves through a payment system. The rules for these systems sit in the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998. Before this law, only the Reserve Bank of Australia had power under it. The Reserve Bank is the country's central bank. That is the bank that runs the nation's money system.

The Reserve Bank can pick out a payment system as one it may set rules for. It can then set rules on who can join. It can set standards, give orders and settle fights.

A government review of payments found the law had not kept up. Its old words might not cover digital wallets, buy now pay later or new kinds of money. The review also said the government needed a way to act on big national issues the Reserve Bank could not deal with.

These changes first went to Parliament in 2023. That bill was dropped when Parliament ended for the 2025 election. So the government brought them back in this bill.

Payment system means more

The old law said a payment system was a way of moving money between many members under shared rules. The new meaning is wider.

It now covers any system for making payments or moving funds. It also covers systems that only send the messages that make a payment happen. These include payment orders, approvals and security keys.

Funds now include money and digital units of value. That takes in digital money and stablecoins. A stablecoin is a digital token made to keep a steady value. It is often tied to the US dollar.

It also covers closed systems, where one company runs the whole thing. American Express and Diners Club work this way.

Participant means more

Rules made under the law apply to the people who take part in a payment system. Before, that mostly meant formal members and the company running it.

Now it means any company that runs or takes part in a system. It also means any company that gives services that help payments happen. That includes Apple Pay and Google Wallet. It includes buy now pay later firms, cash delivery firms and stablecoin payment firms.

Say you use a buy now pay later app to buy shoes. The app pays the shop in full. Then you pay the app back over time with your debit card. The money moves through other systems. Even so, the app now counts as taking part.

Shops that just sell things are not meant to be caught. The exception is a shop that is a member of a payment system or gives payment services itself.

New power for the minister

The minister can now mark a payment system as a special one if the nation needs it. Most of the time this minister is the Treasurer, who is in charge of the nation's money.

The law does not say what the nation's needs are. The government says they could include national safety and keeping shoppers safe. They could also include data, online security, dirty money, handling a crisis and being able to pay.

To use this power, the minister must give at least one reason of national need. It must go beyond the Reserve Bank's usual test of what is good for the public. The minister must also talk to the Reserve Bank and other watchdogs first. The minister must look at other choices too.

The minister's decision must be published. Parliament cannot vote to cancel it.

Other regulators can lead

For each special system, the minister can name a watchdog to run it. This could be the Reserve Bank. It could also be another federal body named in detailed rules the government writes.

Two examples are the company and finance watchdog and the competition and consumer watchdog.

This watchdog can set rules on who can join, make standards, settle fights and give orders for that system. The minister can tell it which things to think about. The minister can also ask it for reports.

Say the Reserve Bank's rules clash with the special watchdog's rules for the same system. Then the special watchdog's rules win. The watchdogs can share facts with each other for this work.

Promises a court can enforce

The Reserve Bank already takes promises from companies about how they will act. The law turns these into promises a court can make them keep.

The Reserve Bank or a special watchdog can take one of these written promises from any company that takes part. If the company breaks it, the watchdog can go to court. The court can make the company keep its promise. It can make the company hand over any profit it made by breaking it. It can also make the company pay back people who lost out.

Bigger penalties

Fines in federal law are counted in units. Each unit is a set dollar amount.

Before, failing to obey an order was a crime. The top fine was 50 units a day, or 250 for a company. This doubles to 100 a day, or 500 for a company.

The law also adds fines a court can order without a criminal trial. Ignoring an order or failing to hand over facts can now cost up to 200 units a day. For a company it is up to 1,000 units a day.

The government says these new fines let watchdogs match the punishment to how bad the wrongdoing was. They also mean less need for criminal cases.

Four other laws updated

The law updates four other laws to fit the changes. Payment systems the watchdogs pick out can be kept out of the rules for money products. These rules sit in the law that sets up the company and finance watchdog, and in the Corporations Act, the main law for companies.

The competition law now talks about a payment system standard, since special watchdogs can make standards too. A tax rule for banks that only run card systems now covers special systems as well. This starts from the 2026-27 tax year.

Systems the Reserve Bank had already picked out stay that way.

Start date

The bill went into the House of Representatives on 30 July 2025. That is the lower house of Parliament, where the government sits. It passed there on 2 September.

The Senate, Parliament's second house, passed it on 4 September 2025. It added four changes put forward by the Liberal and National parties (the Coalition). The House agreed to those changes the same day.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 19 September 2025. It became Act No. 46 of 2025. It started three months after that, the day after the three-month period ended.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

Open the full interactive page