SA Water

In reply to the Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (19 November 2015).

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change):

1. The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) is the industry body that regulates the processing of payments in the Australian banking and financial market. APCA is leading an industry initiative called Image Exchange that will see the exchange of cheques done electronically between all Australian financial institutions. This means that banks no longer need to hand over the physical paper cheque for payment exchange to occur. This change affects all banks and aims to make the processing of cheques more efficient. SA Water's cheque payments are currently processed by its banking services contractor, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). CBA were the first major banking institution to transition to this new process but it is expected that all major banks will follow.