The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has published a Conclusions Paper which proposes a package of reforms that includes removing surcharging, reducing interchange fees and increasing transparency in order to promote competition and efficiency in the payments system.
The key decisions of the RBA include:
- removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks;
- lowering the caps on interchange fees paid by Australian businesses when they accept domestic or overseas card payments;
- increasing transparency over the fees charged by card networks and payment service providers.
Most of these changes will come into effect on 1 October 2026, including the removal of surcharging and reductions in the interchange caps for domestic card transactions.
The introduction of an interchange cap on foreign cards and some changes to payment cost transparency will come into effect on 1 April 2027.
The RBA plans to start a public consultation in mid-2026 to assess the public interest case for regulating areas of the retail payments system that were not covered under the Review, including mobile wallets, three-party card networks, ‘buy-now, pay-later’ services and e-commerce platforms.
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Author: David Jacobson
Principal, Bright Corporate Law
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About David Jacobson
The information contained in this article is not legal advice. It is not to be relied upon as a full statement of the law. You should seek professional advice for your specific needs and circumstances before acting or relying on any of the content.
