FEATURED

A2A

Mar 18, 2026

The economics of A2A: the “fee free” illusion in real time retail

Comparisons with other territories used to push A2A retail business cases in Australia are misleading. In reality, buying a coffee, beer or train ticket is most likely cheaper with a debit card on your mobile.

Digital & Online

Mar 18, 2026

Bluesfest collapse triggers refund confusion

Due to a rare ticketing arrangement Stripe and PayPal are now on the hook for millions in refunds via delayed card chargebacks, after the merchant, Bluesfest Enterprises, went belly up.

THE LATEST

Digital & Online

Mar 18, 2026

With scammers riding roughshod on its network, Telstra teams with banks to catch mules

Digital & Online

Mar 18, 2026

Little action on illicit tobacco instore and online payments as “wars” escalate

The Interchange Bench

Mar 18, 2026

The Interchange Bench

Regulation

Mar 18, 2026

Rare debit surcharge slap for Hyatt just days away from RBA decision

STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST PAYMENTS NEWS

Subscribe to get your weekly updates direct to your inbox

Payments most powerful - a year of tough decisions for the PSB

It is a very busy and critical time for payments most powerful decision-makers, but with delays in decisions, extra scrutiny from the economics committee, and a member’s term ending in December, interest is swirling about the RBA's Payments System Board.

Banks

Mar 18, 2026

US Ripple buys remnants of BC Payments for Aussie licence

US crypto outfit Ripple is buying the remnants of Banking Circle’s original Australian entity, BC Payments Australia, to obtain an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) quickly.

Digital & Online

Mar 18, 2026

Will Swift’s deal with Australia’s big banks fix cross-border payments?

Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB, and Westpac have joined a new Swift framework promising faster, cheaper, more transparent international payments. It's a big coalition, a polished launch, and a genuinely ambitious global rollout. It's also a story with some conspicuous gaps.

Fintech

Mar 18, 2026

Consultation looks at PSPs, ePayments Code powers and unclaimed funds

Treasury has launched a consultation on new legislation for payments service providers (PSPs), including power to make rules for a mandatory and revised ePayments Code and new controls for unclaimed monies.

Cash

Mar 18, 2026

Debit cards hit 77% of volume and 70% of in-store purchase value for first time

Australian consumers continued their shift towards debit cards in January 2026, with debit reaching 77% of volume and a milestone 70% share of in-store card purchase value for the first time on record.

Fintech

Mar 18, 2026

Revolut introduces PayTo for Australian customers

Revolut says its has found a simpler solution for its customers paying pesky utility bills and online subscriptions. With PayTo, consumers can now view, pause or cancel recurring payment agreements within their app.

Banks

Mar 18, 2026

CHOICE: banks not doing their bit to stop financial elder abuse

A CHOICE report has found that most banks aren’t complying with their own industry code of practice to stop elder financial abuse - costing vulnerable people several billions of dollars a year.

Digital & Online

Mar 11, 2026

Australia's $24 billion digital payments bonanza has a $23 billion problem

A new industry report promises a once-in-a-generation digital finance windfall. The maths, the infrastructure, and the Reserve Bank's own admissions tell a different story.

Merchant Service Fees

Mar 11, 2026

Cards close to the chest – RBA mum on fees and surcharge decision

The decision has already been made but the Reserve Bank isn’t giving away any clues as it prepares for the official release of its final verdict on merchant fees and surcharging later this month.

Scams & Fraud

Mar 11, 2026

CoP halts 450k risky transfers at one bank!

Thanks to the integration of Confirmation of Payee (CoP), banks have marked a major milestone in efforts to protect consumers and businesses from scams and misdirected payments.

Digital & Online

Mar 11, 2026

Illicit tobacco online via payments rails, delivered by Australia Post

Australia Post has become the chief courier service for illicit tobacco, with payments provided by a raft of companies including PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, Klarna, Stripe, Link, and CBA and ANZ BSBs.

Cash

Mar 11, 2026

Is banking politics at play in lingering cash saga?

Despite the promise of special interest deals and approved closed-shop negotiations, Australia’s high drama cash distribution saga has dragged on for almost three years.

Banks

Mar 11, 2026

Is Matos’ next move to ramp up or sell off ANZ Worldline and the Suncorp merchant business?

Well-versed in the art of acquiring, ANZ’s Nuno Matos now faces a payment headache – what to do with Suncorp’s 3,000 merchant customers, and his troublesome joint venture partner Worldline.

A2A

Mar 11, 2026

Macquarie wields PayID in catch up rental payments

By launching PayID on DEFT, Macquarie Bank is matching CBA and RentPay on real time payments – strengthening its ongoing campaign to dominate the $85bn-a-year rental payments market.

Digital & Online

Mar 11, 2026

Missed deadline on RBA outage review – the system keeps breaking

Australia built a cashless economy on infrastructure that can't stay online. The Reserve Bank knows it. The telcos know it. And now, after its own system crashed because someone forgot to renew a certificate, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has missed its own deadline to explain what went wrong.

Regulation

Mar 11, 2026

RBA threatens to intervene over A2A discord

The Reserve Bank will intervene to achieve “public interest” outcomes on real time payments if the industry fails to find consensus on key issues like bulk processing and resilience.

The Interchange Bench

Mar 11, 2026

The Interchange Bench

On The Interchange Bench this week, CBA gears up for bulk NPP payments with Maryanna Vasilareas appointment, schemes clamber to Melbourne for F1 antics despite the global fuel crisis, Fat Zebra’s Sebastien Joseph releases SecurePay update, CMSPI’s Robbie MacDiarmid dials in for RBA decision and Mollie buys GoCardless.

Merchant Service Fees

Mar 4, 2026

Bank lobby flags capped credit card surcharge option

With the Reserve Bank set to make its final decision on merchant fees and surcharging tomorrow, the big bank lobby has flagged an alternative to banning credit card surcharging which involves the introduction of credit surcharge caps.

Digital & Online

Mar 4, 2026

Big banks fight to compete online, as rumours rage on Stripe PayPal buyout

Aussie banks are struggling to compete with easy to use and fee-heavy plugins and apps in Australia’s fastest growing payment category - online - as talk of a Stripe takeover of PayPal and Block shedding jobs floods the market.

Fintech

Mar 4, 2026

Blended rates, fintech carve-outs and a trillion-dollar gatekeeper: who really pays?

Australia's parliamentary payments inquiry stripped back the complexity to expose three uncomfortable truths: small businesses are subsidising the system, fintechs want exemptions that would make it worse, and Apple won't even say what it charges.

Digital & Online

Mar 4, 2026

Cross-border payments still too expensive and slow: RBA

Australia’s goals to speed up and reduce the cost of cross-border payments are behind schedule, with banks usually proving more expensive than some fintechs to send money overseas.

Fintech

Mar 4, 2026

Lessn rewards growth with new investment round

Australian B2B payments platform Lessn has celebrated surpassing $100 million transacted on its platform within its first year of operations, as it enters a new investment round.

Fintech

Mar 4, 2026

Mixed results for listed pay firms, with Tyro and Cuscal profits up, revenue slower

BNPL player Zip is now heavily dependent on its US business and like Beforepay, it is struggling to impress investors.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Always learning: Nina Kutzner – Payments Expert and Business Leader

The rawness and complexity of payments hooked Nina Kutzner and has led to a successful and innovative career.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Collaboration and user experience: Peta Gray – NSW Treasury

Experience in customer-facing roles remains an asset for Peta Gray, shaping a deep understanding of customer needs and expectations, the real-world challenges in payments, and how systems are experienced in practice.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Curiosity and growth: Kathleen Harker - ANZ

Kathleen Harker’s rise in the payments sector to Associate Director of Strategic Growth at ANZ started somewhat unexpectedly. She had to grow and adapt quickly to keep up with the ever-changing payments sphere, ultimately shaping her into the payments leader she is today.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Embracing diversity: Bianca Bates – J.P. Morgan

Following a pivotal decision to relocate with her family to Hong Kong for a payments role in 2015, Bianca Bates is now helping to shape the industry’s future in Australia.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Gender equality is not charity: Alison O’Brien - PayPal Australia

One of the most recognisable faces in the Australian payments sector, Alison O’Brien began her journey in payments with then-startup Tyro and is now Director of Enterprise and Mid-Market at PayPal Australia.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Humanity and experience: Lynn Kraus AM – Australian Payments Plus

Leading the team in charge of Australia’s domestic payments infrastructure seems a daunting task, but for Lynn Kraus, her diverse career and the incredible team culture at Australian Payments Plus transforms challenging moments to opportunities.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Humanity and infrastructure: May Lam - Australian Payments Plus

From cheque processor to Chief Information Officer at Australia’s domestic payments powerhouse, May Lam has lived and experienced the gamut of payments over the past 20 years, seeing it as "intersection of technology, economics and human behaviour”.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Passion and self-belief: Danielle Johnson - Westpac

Technology, passion and self-belief have proven a winning combination for Danielle Johnson, the Managing Director of International Payments & Corporate Cards at Westpac.

The Payments Spotlight

Mar 8, 2026

Payments legend Dhun Karai is finally slowing her pace ... sort of

Dhun Karai - one of the most influential women in Australian payments – is slightly easing her lightning pace for the first time in three decades, citing aggressive promotion of eftpos and mentoring young women in payments as some of her biggest achievements to date.

Mar 8, 2026

Supporting women is business sense: Kirstin Renner - Citi

Recently appointed Co-Head of Services for Citi Australia and NZ, Kirstin Renner ‘fell’ into a career in payments, enjoying the constant opportunities and diversity the industry provides.

HAVE A NEWS STORY TO SHARE?

FEATURED

The economics of A2A: the “fee free” illusion in real time retail

Bluesfest collapse triggers refund confusion

THE LATEST

With scammers riding roughshod on its network, Telstra teams with banks to catch mules

Little action on illicit tobacco instore and online payments as “wars” escalate

The Interchange Bench

Rare debit surcharge slap for Hyatt just days away from RBA decision

STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LATEST PAYMENTS NEWS

TRENDING

Payments most powerful - a year of tough decisions for the PSB

US Ripple buys remnants of BC Payments for Aussie licence

Will Swift’s deal with Australia’s big banks fix cross-border payments?

Consultation looks at PSPs, ePayments Code powers and unclaimed funds

Debit cards hit 77% of volume and 70% of in-store purchase value for first time

Revolut introduces PayTo for Australian customers

CHOICE: banks not doing their bit to stop financial elder abuse

Australia's $24 billion digital payments bonanza has a $23 billion problem

Cards close to the chest – RBA mum on fees and surcharge decision

CoP halts 450k risky transfers at one bank!

Illicit tobacco online via payments rails, delivered by Australia Post

Is banking politics at play in lingering cash saga?

Is Matos’ next move to ramp up or sell off ANZ Worldline and the Suncorp merchant business?

Macquarie wields PayID in catch up rental payments

Missed deadline on RBA outage review – the system keeps breaking

RBA threatens to intervene over A2A discord

The Interchange Bench

Bank lobby flags capped credit card surcharge option

Big banks fight to compete online, as rumours rage on Stripe PayPal buyout

Blended rates, fintech carve-outs and a trillion-dollar gatekeeper: who really pays?

Cross-border payments still too expensive and slow: RBA

Lessn rewards growth with new investment round

Mixed results for listed pay firms, with Tyro and Cuscal profits up, revenue slower

Always learning: Nina Kutzner – Payments Expert and Business Leader

Collaboration and user experience: Peta Gray – NSW Treasury

Curiosity and growth: Kathleen Harker - ANZ

Embracing diversity: Bianca Bates – J.P. Morgan

Gender equality is not charity: Alison O’Brien - PayPal Australia

Humanity and experience: Lynn Kraus AM – Australian Payments Plus

Humanity and infrastructure: May Lam - Australian Payments Plus

Passion and self-belief: Danielle Johnson - Westpac

Payments legend Dhun Karai is finally slowing her pace ... sort of

Supporting women is business sense: Kirstin Renner - Citi

HAVE A NEWS STORY TO SHARE?