Peter Drennan | PayDay News

Read analysis from Senior Business Analyst and Qi Insights,
Peter Drennan

Cash

Feb 18, 2026

Australia breaks new records on card spending ... and merchant fees

New data shows 2025 saw record card usage in Australia, but fees charged to merchants for accepting those cards also increased across almost all card categories.

Cash

Feb 18, 2026

Cash demand up at branches as closures continue

The latest Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) statistics show demand for cash remains strong at bank branches, while some banks continue to close their doors at globally high rates.

Cash

Jan 14, 2026

Australian card payments cross $1.1 trillion milestone

Australian card payment volumes have crossed the $1.1 trillion threshold for the first time, reaching $1.105 trillion over the past 12 months. The milestone reflects continued growth in consumer card usage.

Cash

Dec 10, 2025

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

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.

Dec 10, 2025

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.

Nov 12, 2025

Credit card growth overtakes debit as interest-bearing balances hit four-year high

Annual growth in credit cards has overtaken annual growth in debit cards for the first time since August 2023, ending two years of stronger debit card growth.

Regulation

Nov 12, 2025

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.

Cash

Oct 8, 2025

Online set to dominate card transactions by end of 2026

The latest RBA payments data reveals Australian card spending retreated to $92 billion in August, while device-not-present transactions broke through 45% of total payments for the first time, putting online and bill payments on track to dominate by end of 2026.

Cash

Sep 10, 2025

Debit spend up, while credit pays the bills

July's RBA payment data, released on Monday, reveals diverging trends: credit cards struggle in-store but dominate bill payments, while strong debit card growth suggests returning consumer confidence in discretionary spending.

Digital & Online

Sep 3, 2025

RBA flags greater scrutiny of payments resilience

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has endorsed an ongoing research program examining interoperability, third-party and concentration risks, resilience arrangements for high-value payments and the vulnerability of the payments system to utilities outages.

Digital & Online

Aug 27, 2025

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.

Aug 20, 2025

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.

Merchant Service Fees

Aug 13, 2025

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).

Cash

Aug 13, 2025

Monthly payments data report

The RBA released its retail payments data as at June 2025 on August 7, showing declines in in-store credit card spending and New Payments Platform (NPP) growth moderating.

Cash

Jul 9, 2025

Australia’s record credit card surge hides a surprising twist

Credit card spending just hit a two-year high, but the real story isn't about consumers. It's about businesses on the brink.

Cards

Jun 23, 2025

Aussies cut retail spend as data shows bills soaring

Australians are not spending less, they are spending differently. That is the message coming through clearly in the latest retail payments data, which shows card use continuing to grow, but with spending increasingly directed toward essential services rather than discretionary retail.

Cash

Jun 11, 2025

Card growth slows, but credit debt not yet getting out of hand.

This week the RBA released its Retail Payments data to April 2025. Here are the latest results.

Merchant Service Fees

May 21, 2025

Mastercard outage triggered record disruption in card payments, data reveals

New data reveals external dependencies remain a critical vulnerability for the Australian payments system, following a Mastercard outage in March which triggered the most widespread disruption to card payment services seen since reporting began four years ago.

Cards

May 8, 2025

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.

May 8, 2025

The urgent need to reduce card fees for Australian small business was a strong theme in early submissions to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inquiry into card fees and surcharging this week.

Cards

Nov 20, 2024

A cool $6.4 billion evaporates in cloud of merchant fee mystique

Businesses incurred $6.4 billion in annual merchant fees just for accepting debit and credit cards during the 2022/2023 fiscal year across Australia, but it is almost impossible to track where all the money went.

Nov 7, 2024

Presented by Peter Drennan, Senior Business Analyst

Oct 9, 2024

August RBA Stats: Credit cards growth trends

Presented by Peter Drennan, Senior Business Analyst

A2A

Oct 9, 2024

The real story on real time

With only five years to run until the proposed closure of the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS), the New Payments Platform (NPP) has just 10% of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments.

Read analysis from Senior Business Analyst and Qi Insights, Peter Drennan

Australia breaks new records on card spending ... and merchant fees

Cash demand up at branches as closures continue

Australian card payments cross $1.1 trillion milestone

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

Mobile wallets grow 24% annually as Australians abandon physical cards

Credit card growth overtakes debit as interest-bearing balances hit four-year high

Merchant fees surge 10% ahead of proposed surcharge ban

Online set to dominate card transactions by end of 2026

Debit spend up, while credit pays the bills

RBA flags greater scrutiny of payments resilience

NPP outages up, with ME recording 20 hours out

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

Merchants cop more card fee increases, despite RBA pressure

Monthly payments data report

Australia’s record credit card surge hides a surprising twist

Aussies cut retail spend as data shows bills soaring

Card growth slows, but credit debt not yet getting out of hand.

Mastercard outage triggered record disruption in card payments, data reveals

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

Personal card debt hits highest mark since 2021

Payments growth slowing as commercial card debt increases

Least Cost Routing enablement still has a long way to go

Monthly Payments Data Report

NPP data is back, led by PayID growth

The decline in cash has plateaued but for how long?

Monthly Payments Data Report

First insights into PayTo growth - slow but steady

Monthly Payments Data Report

Monthly Payments Data Report

High card fees for small business under attack in RBA review

A cool $6.4 billion evaporates in cloud of merchant fee mystique

Monthly Payments Data Report

Debit fees remain static despite interchange caps and massive volume increase

Recurring bill payments to help boost NPP real time migration

August RBA Stats: Annual value of debit/credit card purchases

August RBA Stats: Debit cards growth trends

August RBA Stats: Elements of Account-to-Account Payments

August RBA Stats: Cash usage growth trends

August RBA Stats: Credit cards growth trends

The real story on real time

Read analysis from Senior Business Analyst and Qi Insights,
Peter Drennan