What happened
- Specific facts/numbers: The RBA and Treasury published an updated retail CBDC assessment on 3 September 2026, reaffirming the conclusion first set out in their 18 September 2024 joint paper that there is no clear public-interest case for issuing a retail CBDC in Australia at present.
- Institutions involved: The Reserve Bank of Australia, Australia’s Treasury and Verian Group are central to the work; the update was released alongside the RBA’s broader tokenised-money and settlement-services agenda, including Project Acacia.
- Regulatory/technical context: The update says Australia’s retail payments system is serving households and businesses well, and that the assessment was informed by public consultation on unmet payment needs and views on digital money; the RBA is continuing work on wholesale digital money and settlement infrastructure rather than moving toward a consumer CBDC now.
- What to watch next: Watch for the outcome of the RITS consultation, which the RBA said is open until 30 October 2026, and for any future evidence that changes the current assessment; beyond that, no separate retail-CBDC issuance milestone was identified.
Why it matters
For banks, payment firms and infrastructure providers, the message is that Australia is not prioritising a retail CBDC launch now, so near-term policy attention remains focused on wholesale market and settlement modernisation instead.
HKMA Relevance
Indirect: The RBA’s stance adds to Asia-Pacific central-bank thinking on digital money and could inform how Hong Kong monitors cross-border CBDC and tokenised-money developments.