Credit card schemes face parliamentary inquiry as revolving debt hits 4 year high

By Warwick Ponder, Editor

Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard will join digital wallet providers Apple Pay and Google Pay to front a new parliamentary inquiry in 2026, as Australia’s revolving credit card debt and online spending soars to new highs.

As the rollout deadline approaches, Confirmation of Payee may need to race on off-system BSBs and allocated EFT

By Michael Sainsbury, Senior Business Correspondent

The rollout of Confirmation of Payee is due for completion by year end, already reaching 141 million Australian bank accounts across 116 organisations. But like all payments upgrades there may be some work still to do at the edges, including off-system BSB and allocated EFT transactions.

Chargeback fees surge as AI reshapes online payments and merchants bear the cost

By Michael Sainsbury, Senior Business Correspondent

Friendlier bank disputes processes are giving way to automated, opaque and more expensive fintech systems, costing merchants big dollars in fees as online sales boom.

BECS future to drop on Tuesday, Matos takes on ABA Chair, BC aims for Fintechs and was ANZ too soon on Airwallex?

On The Interchange Bench this week, BECS announcement to drop on Tuesday, busy Nuno Matos takes on the Chair role at ABA, ASL changes its name, Laz moves to BB and did ANZ pull out of AirWallex too soon?

ASL to start 2026 with a new name and tagline – “Australia’s payment bank”

By Warwick Ponder, Editor

ASL will start 2026 with a new name – Banking Circle – as it moves to compete with a bolstered Cuscal fresh from its Indue acquisition.

Mobile wallets grow 24% annually as Australians abandon physical cards

By Peter Drennan, Senior Business Analyst

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.

Littlepay taps Wellington, showing Australia how a city's contactless transit can be done

By Warwick Ponder, Editor

In stark contrast to Australian transit payment project overruns and delays, Melbourne transit payments outfit Littlepay will deliver a contactless transit system for Wellington, New Zealand, for NZ$5.5 million in just six months.

Payments innovation lacks priority, survey

By Rachel St Clair, Reporter

Less than half of C-suite executives from payments organisations from around the world see innovation as a priority, according to a new ACI Worldwide report.

Australia’s first real-time super payment from inside payroll

By Staff Reporter

Employment Hero has processed its first Payday Super payment over the NPP via HeroClear, a super-clearing and validation solution built with payments provider Zepto and SuperStream messaging provider OZEDI.

CBA pays $792k for CDR breaches

By Staff Reporter

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has paid penalties totalling $792,000 after the ACCC issued it with four infringement notices for alleged breaches of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) Rules.

Ciggies cheaper than ‘90s, as payments industry dawdles and ABS commits to collect data

By Staff Reporter

Despite promises from the payments industry to crack down on illicit tobacco sellers, punters can still use their cards to purchase a packet of illegal cigarettes, cheaper today than a quarter of century ago when Paul Keating was PM and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit topped Australia’s Hot 100.

Device-not-present transactions account for 85% of card payment growth

By Peter Drennan, Senior Business Analyst

The dominance of device-not-present payments continues to reshape the Australian payments landscape. The latest RBA data shows that of the $107.4 billion increase in annual card spend over the past year, $90.8 billion, 84.6% of total growth, has come from online shopping, bill payments and subscriptions.

Checkout.com adopts OpenAI backed ACP for merchants

By Rachel St Clair, Reporter

Global digital payments company, Checkout.com announced it will support Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), as their research suggests Australian’s are highly open to AI-assisted shopping.

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