Bank reporting of illegal tobacco to AUSTRAC is ramping up and starting to have real world impacts, with suspect funds being confiscated after accounts were flagged by ANZ and Westpac. But there is a lot more to be done ... stores remain open and the trade continues to shift online, as illicit alcohol looms as the next big underworld threat.

Monoova’s incoming CEO Bianca Bates will take the reins on the same day that payday super becomes law in Australia – presenting a significant commercial opportunity uniquely skewed to her deep industry experience honed at the company’s payments partner Cuscal.

NAB has acquired loss-making account-to-account (A2A) fintech Banked for scrap, as a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the crowded New Payments Platform (NPP) fintech sector.

As the surcharge ban looms, industry groups are predicting the return of cash discounts and the introduction of benefits for account-to-account payments for online transactions - but what are the rules?

Wannabe Aussie bank Revolut has declined to name a date for the return of its PayTo service after 250 of its “dormant” zombie accounts were used to defraud about $3 million unsuspecting from consumers on social media.

ATO data shared via the Consumer Data Right may not just speed up rental and loan applications, but also help the banks fight their $3 billion mortgage fraud problem.

Perception is everything in the financial markets and right now investors like Cuscal but have serious doubts about Tyro’s future, creating a mammoth task for CEO Nigel Lee to re-establish confidence.

Project Acacia concludes that Australia's existing payments and settlement infrastructure can carry most of the load a production wholesale central bank digital currency was expected to, if industry coordinates. Unsurprisingly, Australian Payments Plus, one of 13 lead industry organisations on the project, and owner of the NPP, has come to the same view.

Commonwealth Bank’s quarterly results show what is becoming a familiar pattern of business lending growth amongst the big bank card issuers, after NAB and Westpac also showed big spikes.

With the Reserve Bank continuing to predict inflationary pain for the near term, new data from The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) suggests Aussies are continuing to splash out on discretionary items while shying away from the petrol pump.

The ACCC has called for submissions about the potential competition impacts of Mastercard’s proposed $1.8 billion acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK.

On The Interchange Bench this week, Banking Circle faces more change with a new global boss, Fillbrook’s Paddington rescue, Walters hits the regional bus and CommBank names Mary-Anne Williams as first Chief AI Scientist.

Australia’s fintech sector has warned proposed capital gains tax reforms could cripple startup investment, weaken employee equity incentives and push founders, talent and capital offshore just as global competition for technology innovation intensifies.

While the Reserve Bank has given the green light for the US card schemes to impose their “no surcharge” bans on merchants in Australia from 1 October, our travelling reporter Alex Zaharov-Reutt discovers that merchants in their home country are not restricted by the same rules.