Regional Australia doesn't need smarter ATMs, it needs bank branches
An ACCC filing suggests the Australian Banking Association wants multi-bank deposit ATMs to fill the gap left by 1,564 branch closures since 2020. But regional banks and their communities said a machine in a wall is no substitute for a person behind a counter.
Cash
+1
Platform trap: Captured SMEs exposed to card fee shock
After announcing a surcharge ban on both credit and debit, the RBA’s remedy for small businesses to avoid card fee shock was to shop around for cheaper payments options. With just 176 days to run until the 1 October deadline, this simplistic economist view ignores just how deeply platform players like Xero, MYOB, Stripe, Square and Shopify have embedded themselves into Aussie businesses.
Fintech
+1
"The fees don't disappear": voices calling foul on Australia's surcharge ban
Over the past week, commentary from across industry - Brad Kelly, the co-founder of the Independent Payments Forum (IPF), John Arnott, Director of AMP Bank Go, Jason Bryce, a Melbourne-based financial journalist and founder of CashWelcome.org, and Dr Fei Gao, Lecturer from the University of Sydney Business School - has highlighted the level of concern about the RBA’s decision during a period of high inflation and economic uncertainty.
Cash
+4
Cyclone Narelle exposes Australia's cashless fragility
Cyclone Narelle ripped through Cape York and slammed into the Northern Territory, affecting dozens of remote communities scattered across the Top End, including their ability to buy anything at all.
Cash
+1
Pay.com.au's new CTO wants to turn $4.2 trillion in “dead payments” into rewards
Dee Kulkarni on scaling a $633 million Australian fintech into the US, why indecision is the only bad decision, and the budget risk nobody's ignoring.
Fintech
+1
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.
Fintech
+3
