Regulation
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Oct 28, 2025
AusPayNet will communicate a revised roadmap for the BECS shutdown before the end of the year, as the Reserve Bank urges the industry to cooperate on a shared vision for Account-to-Account (A2A) payments and expect “trade-offs”.
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Industry insiders and proceeds of crime experts question whether PSPs are making any effort to help halt the $10 billion trade - and whether the latest government task force will make a difference.
Fintech
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LCR
With the ANZ acquisition of Suncorp leaving the future of its acquiring business uncertain and Shift4 buying up big parts of Worldline in the US, ANZ Worldline appears to be lifting its game on product development and Least-Cost Routing.
The Interchange Bench
On the Interchange Bench this week, a chorus line of PSP and scheme executives perform in Canberra, AP+ gets new leadership talent and the tobacco terminal wars come to LinkedIn.
+3
The soul crushing process of filling in piles of detailed rental applications could get a whole lot easier with the clever application of technologies like Digital ID and the Consumer Data Right (CDR), according to Sydney payments outfits Fat Zebra and AP+.
A2A
Employers should not be responsible for payments industry processing bungles under the Federal Government’s Payday Super rules, according to small business advocates.
Cash
Strike action from cash-in-transit workers hit the Spring Racing Carnival just days after the ACCC has issued a draft determination green lighting the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and other industry partners to develop ways to ensure the continued distribution of cash across Australia.
AI
Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic idea or a Silicon Valley experiment. It has quietly become the invisible engine driving how money moves, how fraud is prevented, and how trust is built across the global financial system. What are the potential benefits, and the risks?
ASX-listed fintech Findi Group has entered into an agreement to acquire eco-friendly paytech Sphere for Good (Sphere) for an implied value of $6 million, payable in Findi shares.
DoorDash, Milkrun and Uber Eats could be charging consumers 40 per cent more for some grocery items compared to what they cost instore, a CHOICE investigation into third-party delivery apps has found.
Tyro Health has launched its fully certified, integrated Aged Care Solution ahead of the Australian Government's Support at Home program, which will commence on Saturday.
Banks
Oct 21, 2025
In the midst of fierce debate about the future of credit card rewards programs and interchange, ANZ and Woolworths Group’s Everyday Rewards have announced a new loyalty partnership.
CBA has replaced Cashless Card and Cardless Deposits using mobile phone numbers with a QR solution in an effort to reduce financial crime.
The Commonwealth Bank closed the most bank branches in the 12 months to July 2025, followed by Westpac and ANZ, according to the latest APRA numbers.
Government
The government has announced it's drafting legislation to target a crackdown on crypto ATMs that may see the machines, which buy cash to sell crypto currency, restricted or banned.
Around 40 percent of Australians express distrust towards the major banks, while “the cost of living crunch does not discriminate”, according to new research from Nielsen Consumer & Media View (CMV).
This week on The Interchange Bench, Treasury and banks are at odds over definitions of a “small business’ while rewards announcements abound, more digital outages cause headaches for consumers and BNPL companies make hay in a wild west US.
Only fuel and groceries have been classified as “essential purchases” under draft regulations released for comment on Friday, with medicines, government services and clothing among items failing to qualify.
+4
“Our message is clear: if you profit from illicit tobacco in Australia, you are operating illegally,” says Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
There is a lot of debate around the surcharge ban in Australia. The Reserve Bank (RBA) claims only 10% of small businesses surcharge, but many are sceptical of that figure. If the RBA is wrong, a ban on surcharging can have serious implications for consumers, businesses and payment service providers.
After eight months in seeming purgatory, the mandating cash acceptance submissions are now available for viewing, but with major banks and retailers missing, it’s hard to decipher whose opinions on cash Treasury values.
Banks are removing eftpos-only “prop” cards and the nation’s fastest growing card issuer Macquarie has an eftpos exemption casting a further shadow over least-cost routing.
Oct 14, 2025
Australian payment services provider Monoova has been named Company of the Year at the Global FinTech Awards 2025 in London, highlighting Australia’s growing influence in the global fintech sector.
On the Interchange Bench this week there are rumblings from the nation’s capital that the Cash Mandate is back on, while the POS market comes alive with ambitious plays from the likes of Airwallex, Oolio and a mystery bank, and ANZ Worldline distances itself from ANZ on LinkedIn!
Treasury has started consultation on tranche 1 of its new regulatory framework for Payment Service Providers (PSPs).
There’s uncertainty about how governments will recoup the cost of banning card surcharges, as NSW bumps up its annual fees by more than CPI and Queensland cuts American Express as payment option for transport this week.
Payments industry leaders have welcomed the introduction of the Payday Super legislation to Parliament that will require employers to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salary and wages from 1 July 2026.
PayPal has launched its new merchant platform PayPal Open in Australia, integrating a suite of commerce tools from the PayPal ecosystem.
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock has admitted that not only are small merchants paying “much, much more” in card fees than their big business counterparts, but they may continue to do so under its proposed plan.
A number of Payment Service Providers say they are actively working to identify and block illegal tobacco businesses and remove their POS terminal services.
Tokenised invoices are the next step in safe and instant reconciled payments, according to payments fintech, Azupay.
Oct 7, 2025
Days after the Reserve Bank named payments resilience as a major priority for the next two years, the country’s biggest bank crashed its payments services for the second time in two weeks.
In the Interchange Bench this week, PayPal’s local boss takes his beach-side mansion to auction, while AP+ executives spruik their NPP experiences in Europe and Zeller’s customer calculator cranks up ahead of its UK expansion.
Digital & Online
Deanne Bannatyne has taken over the top job at NAB’s healthcare payments specialist, HICAPS.
The decision to kill its venture arm reflects internal pressures, a deteriorating external environment and an uncertain future for ANZ-backed fintechs left standing.
