Crypto executives say AUSTRAC’s recent crackdowns will strengthen the industry’s legitimacy.

India has put account-to-account (A2A) payments behind the same tap consumers use for cards, potentially removing a critical adoption barrier that has frustrated Australian payment providers for almost a decade.

In a regulatory free environment, American Express has created a Supplier Trade Fee (STF) allowing eligible B2B merchants to recover transaction costs after its October surcharge ban, provided the charge meets their own strict conditions.

Australian customers were not impacted after the global fintech was tricked into handing sensitive customer information to scammers raising fresh concerns about new ways that cybersecurity can be breached.

When the first post-surcharging merchant statements hit struggling small businesses on 1 November, expect a loud and ugly reaction to the bill shock.

Australia Post promises at least 4,000 retail outlets, but some already operate without cash and hundreds lack Bank@Post, raising questions about what cash and payment services will survive another looming round of network rationalisation.

On The Interchange Bench this week, TNS promotes PAX chief Johnson to global role, Walsh appointed pay’s marketing chief, Younes takes on platforms at Stripe, Edwards lands as head of credit at Pepper, Stripe hires LinkedIn AI specialist for AUNZ, France says cash remains a haven when economic fears rise, Binance Card lands on Apple Pay, AML businesses caught in false compliance and Europe urged to close cash loopholes.

Coles has shut down Coles Pay but is stepping up Flybuys rewards ahead of Christmas just as Australia’s banks cut credit card perks, reframe loyalty offerings and consumers increasingly shift their spending towards debit.

Australian merchants using Adobe Commerce and Magento were last week urged to apply security patches immediately after authorities warned a critical vulnerability was being actively exploited.