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nid 91767
Apr 08, 2026
kgurnani@vixio.com
Australia
Reserve Bank of Australia
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2013 charsAustralia's Reserve Bank Publishes Conclusions on Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging Reforms
On 31 March 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a Conclusions Paper setting out the final decisions of the Payments System Board (PSB) on its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging. The PSB determined that a package of reforms promoting competition and efficiency in the payments system would serve the public interest.
The key decisions include removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards across designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks. The PSB concluded that the surcharging framework, introduced over two decades ago, no longer achieves its intended purpose of steering consumers towards efficient payment choices. Increased prevalence of businesses applying uniform surcharges across all cards, enforcement challenges, and declining cash usage have reduced the regime's effectiveness. Removing surcharging will simplify card payments, enhance transparency and increase competition among payment service providers, aligning with consumer preferences for costs to be incorporated into advertised prices.
The reforms also include lowering caps on interchange fees paid by Australian businesses for domestic and overseas card transactions, expected to reduce costs for businesses accepting card payments, with small businesses benefiting most. Additionally, the PSB will increase transparency over fees charged by card networks and payment service providers to strengthen competition and enable businesses to compare offerings more effectively.
Most changes take effect on 1 October 2026, including surcharging removal and domestic interchange fee reductions. The introduction of interchange caps on foreign cards and payment cost transparency changes take effect on 1 April 2027 to allow the payments industry sufficient implementation time. The RBA plans to commence public consultation in mid-2026 on regulating additional retail payments areas including mobile wallets, three-party card networks, buy-now, pay-later services and e-commerce platforms.
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2656 charsAustralia's Reserve Bank Publishes Conclusions on Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging Reforms
On 31 March 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a Conclusions Paper setting out the final decisions of the Payments System Board (PSB) on its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging.
The PSB determined that a package of reforms promoting competition and efficiency in the payments system would serve the public interest. The key decisions include:
Removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards across designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks . The PSB concluded that the surcharging framework, introduced over two decades ago, no longer achieves its intended purpose of steering consumers towards efficient payment choices. Increased prevalence of businesses applying uniform surcharges across all cards, enforcement challenges, and declining cash usage have reduced the regime's effectiveness. Removing surcharging will simplify card payments, enhance transparency and increase competition among payment service providers, aligning with consumer preferences for costs to be incorporated into advertised prices.
Lowering caps on interchange fees paid by Australian businesses for domestic and overseas card transactions , expected to reduce costs for businesses accepting card payments, with small businesses benefiting most.
Increasing transparency over fees charged by card networks and payment service providers to strengthen competition and enable businesses to compare offerings more effectively. Most changes take effect on 1 October 2026, including surcharging removal and domestic interchange fee reductions. The introduction of interchange caps on foreign cards and payment cost transparency changes take effect on 1 April 2027 to allow the payments industry sufficient implementation time. The RBA plans to commence public consultation in mid-2026 on regulating additional retail payments areas including mobile wallets, three-party card networks, buy-now, pay-later services and e-commerce platforms.
Increasing transparency over fees charged by card networks and payment service providers to strengthen competition and enable businesses to compare offerings more effectively.
Most changes take effect on 1 October 2026, including surcharging removal and domestic interchange fee reductions. The introduction of interchange caps on foreign cards and payment cost transparency changes take effect on 1 April 2027 to allow the payments industry sufficient implementation time.
The RBA plans to commence public consultation in mid-2026 on regulating additional retail payments areas including mobile wallets, three-party card networks, buy-now, pay-later services and e-commerce platforms.