In January 2023, the Reserve Bank of Australia commissioned a comprehensive review of the operating
environment supporting the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS). This system is a critical
part of Australias payments infrastructure and is owned and operated by the Reserve Bank. The
review, conducted by Deloitte, was requested by the Payments System Board (PSB) following a major outage
of the system on 12 October 2022. The review was discussed at the PSB meeting on 25 May where
the PSB also considered an internal assessment of RITS against the relevant international Principles for
Financial Market Infrastructures prepared by the Banks Payments Policy Department.
To support transparency, the Bank is today releasing the Deloitte review and the assessment against the
international principles, and the Banks initial response, as outlined below.
The Bank is committed to the highest standards in operating critically important national payments
infrastructure. The review and assessment highlight that there is work to be done here. The Deloitte
review concluded that the Bank has relied heavily on experienced and dedicated staff and has a strong
culture of care. It also concluded that the Bank needs to strengthen its systems and processes if it is
to achieve the high standards of service availability that are required.
The Bank is committed to implementing the recommendations in the review and assessment. Specifically, it
plans to:
- formalise the RITS operating model to ensure responsibilities are well articulated, investments are
appropriately targeted, and resilience is enhanced. - strengthen the risk management framework, with a focus on improving accountability for assurance
activities. - uplift processes supporting the RITS ecosystem including better use of automation and more effective
change management practices. - further develop frameworks to encourage feedback and constructive challenge in the areas supporting
RITS, consistent with broader Bank initiatives.
A detailed implementation plan is now being developed, with some elements of that plan overlapping the
Banks response to the recommendations arising from the Review of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
The Bank will report to the PSB on progress in implementing the improvements at future Board meetings.
Background and related information
The Bank owns and operates RITS, Australias real-time gross settlement system. RITS is critical
national infrastructure for the Australian payments system and is required to function as a highly
available and resilient system. The operation of RITS is overseen by the Banks PSB, which assesses
RITS against the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures published by the Bank for International
Settlements.
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