Peter Drennan

Insights and Stories through Data

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.

Cash

Mobile wallets grow 24% annually as Australians abandon physical cards

The RBA's payments data has reached a critical milestone: 13 months of mobile wallet statistics. For the first time, we can compare year-on-year growth, and the results confirm a fundamental shift in how Australians pay.

Merchant fees surge 10% ahead of proposed surcharge ban

New RBA data shows Australian merchants are paying $300 million more annually in card fees, despite political and regulatory scrutiny on surcharging and interchange reform.

Regulation

NPP outages up, with ME recording 20 hours out

More than half of NPP banks had outages in the June quarter, including three of the Big Four banks.

Digital & Online

Is industry hedging surcharging losses with sneaky fee increases in the booming online channel?

While debate rages on about surcharging and the significant impact on retailers in Australia, a subtle but significant trend has emerged in the card fees data.

Merchants cop more card fee increases, despite RBA pressure

Merchant fees across Australia's major payment networks have increased over the past six months, despite intensified regulatory scrutiny from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Merchant Service Fees

Merchants cop even higher fees - led by 5% jump in fees charged by PSPs for eftpos transactions

Quarterly merchant fee data by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) shows more increases in Merchant Fees, another hit to businesses in the first quarter of 2025.

Cards

NPP data is back, led by PayID growth

NPP is back, data quality has been resolved and we can see the progress of NPP once again.

A2A

The decline in cash has plateaued but for how long?

What the data tells us about levels of cash use in Australian retail payments, and where will it be in 10 years time?

Cash