Australian Payments Plus has established a payment service provider forum to have closer liaison with non-member payments businesses.

AP+, which is a product of the merger of BPay, eftpos and NPP Australia, is owned by its 22 members, including local and international banks, big retailers and payment processors.

Non-members have complained over the years about the difficulty of getting access to the domestic payment system, and earlier this year the Reserve Bank’s head of payments policy, Ellis Connolly, said the RBA wanted to see improved access to the system for payment service providers.

Connolly said the RBA has started work on a set of common access requirements to help support access to payment systems, including the NPP.

AP+ said in a statement that the forum would allow it to get “valuable feedback” from payment service providers “as the organisation formulates its future roadmap.” Access and integration issues will be on the agenda.

Meetings will be chaired by Greg Cooper, an AP+ board member. Cooper is a former chief executive of Schroder Investment Management Australia. He has chaired the Financial Services Council and is currently a director of NSW Treasury Corp and Perpetual Ltd.

AP+ has called for nominations from parties interested in appointment to the forum.