Search through our Blog

Offshore Banking in Australia

  1. What is the Reserve Bank of Australia and who owns it?
  2. How does the Reserve Bank set interest rates?
  3. Who is on the Reserve Bank Board and how are they appointed?
  4. Can I open a bank account with the Reserve Bank?
  5. What if I have a concern or complaint about my bank or similar financial institution?
1. What is the Reserve Bank of Australia and who owns it?
The Reserve Bank of Australia is Australia's central bank. Its role is set out in the Reserve Bank Act 1959. The Bank conducts the nation's monetary policy and issues its currency. It seeks to foster financial system stability and promotes the safety and efficiency of the payments system. It also offers banking services to government. The Bank is a body corporate wholly owned by the Commonwealth of Australia. For more information see about the RBA.
back to top

2. How does the Reserve Bank set interest rates?
The Reserve Bank Board makes monetary policy decisions in terms of the cash rate – the interest rate on overnight loans in the money market. These decisions affect a range of other market and institutional interest rates. For details see about monetary policy.
back to top

3. Who is on the Reserve Bank Board and how are they appointed?
The Reserve Bank Board has up to nine members. Three of these are ex officio: the Reserve Bank Governor (Chairman), the Deputy Governor (Deputy Chairman) and the Secretary to the Treasury. The Governor and Deputy Governor are appointed by the Treasurer for terms of up to seven years. The other six (non-executive) members are appointed for terms of up to five years. Board members are appointed by the Treasurer and there is no limit on the number of terms they may serve. See Reserve Bank Board for more information, including details on current and previous members of the Board.
back to top

4. Can I open a bank account with the Reserve Bank?
The Reserve Bank is not a commercial bank and so does not provide banking facilities to the general public. It does, however, provide banking services to some government, commercial bank and other clients.
back to top

5. What if I have a concern or complaint about my bank or similar financial institution?
The Reserve Bank does not supervise the prudential soundness of banks or other financial institutions, though it does have a role in maintaining the stability of the financial system as a whole.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is responsible for prudential supervision of financial institutions.
The Reserve Bank also does not handle consumer complaints about financial institutions. Such matters should be addressed to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) or the Financial Ombudsman Service.





Banking Services

The Reserve Bank of Australia provides specialised banking services to the Australian Government and its agencies, other government instrumentalities, other central banks, and overseas official institutions.
The Reserve Bank provides a facility to the Australian Government that is used to manage a group of bank accounts, known as the Official Public Account (OPA) Group, the aggregate balance of which represents the Government's daily cash position. These banking arrangements include the provision of a term-deposit facility for the investment of surplus funds, the sweeping of balances to and from agencies' accounts held with transactional bankers, and access to a strictly limited overdraft facility. To assist in monetary policy and liquidity management, this service also includes the electronic collection of forecasting data and reporting on high-value transactions from agencies and transactional bankers. The Department of Finance and Deregulation manages this facility on behalf of the Australian Government.
The Reserve Bank also provides transactional banking facilities to various Australian Government agencies. The main transactional banking services offered by the Bank include:
  • bank account facilities;
  • online payment services, including real-time card-based payments;
  • processing and distribution of bulk electronic direct credit and direct debit transactions, including welfare, Medicare rebates, salaries and vendor payments;
  • various collection services, including internet, telephone and online card-based facilities;
  • overseas payment services, including direct entry, electronic funds transfer (wires) and cheque;
  • document printing services where agencies can electronically request the Reserve Bank to issue cheques and electronic documents on their behalf; and
  • cheque reconciliation, repository and verification services including a system that can assist in the identification of cheque fraud.
Access to these services is usually by way of RBAnet (the Reserve Bank's internet-based desktop banking package) or direct data link.

Banking in Australia http://openoffshorebankaccountfornonresident.blogspot.com/2013/08/banking-in-australia.html
Moving to Australia http://openoffshorebankaccountfornonresident.blogspot.com/2013/08/moving-to-australia-checklist.html