As Canberra bans surcharges in October, a glaring loophole has been left open that hands NAB the country's biggest commercial card windfall. Taxpayers will be forced to cover the cost of expensive corporate credit cards used to pay for government services, while public servants will inflict pain on small businesses every time they open their wallets, forcing up prices.

Ahead of what is likely to be the biggest Payment Service Provider (PSP) and acquiring market shakeup in decades, Tyro, Zeller, Westpac and CBA are already wooing customers for the post-surcharging world, while ANZ remains mum on its plans for ANZ Worldline.

Amidst high inflation, global uncertainty and surging fuel prices, Michele Bullock announced the controversial surcharging ban last week by saying the system "no longer works as intended." What she didn't say is that she was one of the people who made it work the way it did.

As the industry struggles to satisfy the Reserve Bank that the New Payments Platform can deal with the Government’s high priority bulk payments for essential services including welfare, veterans, pensions and the public service payroll, Australian Payments Plus is looking for feedback on a potential fix – but it comes with a big price tag and ongoing costs.

New research from Money.com.au reveals that just one-third of Australians support the government's surcharge ban, with 87% expecting retailers to respond by raising prices, potentially triggering a fresh inflation spike at the worst possible time.

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.

Facebook and Instagram have become a digital shopfront for criminal tobacco gangs and the payment platforms, including Stripe and PayPal, that enable their operations – all delivered by Australia Post.

On The Interchange Bench this week Askew hangs up the Coles apron, ANZ’s Papahatzis dons the pay cap at QBE, Pyng plays “free” Fintech bingo, Monoova pokes the payments pooch for April fools, and AP+ slow releases consultation via drip feed LinkedIn.

Westpac is warning Australian businesses and households to brace themselves for a “new wave of personalised, AI driven scams” this year, and wants social media platforms to step up.

Over the past week, commentary from across industry - Brad Kelly, the co-founder of the Independent Payments Forum, 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 high inflation and economic uncertainty.

Business leader and Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board Director Elana Rubin has been appointed local Chair at Airwallex.