News about payments regulation, including from Treasury, the RBA, ACCC, AUSTRAC and other authorities
If the Reserve Bank wants consensus on its proposal for merchant fees and surcharging, it’s a lost cause. The best the central bank can hope for is a decision in the public interest, leveraging strong sentiment on issues such as scheme fees, least-cost routing and the burden on small business.
Fintech
+6
Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock has talked up the benefits of the New Payments Platform in Australia, while its key customer – the Federal Government - continues to hold back on moving substantial volume to the platform.
Regulation
+1
After years of deliberation and delay, federal parliament has finally passed changes to the Payments System Regulation Act. While the reforms give the Treasurer new special powers to designate payments systems in the ‘national interest’ they are unlikely to advance the RBA’s mandate to support competition. Currently only eftpos, NPP, Visa and MasterCard are designated payment systems.
Merchant Service Fees
+3
Tyro is warning customers to only make “modest price adjustments” in the wake of the proposed RBA surcharging bans next year, while continuing to promote hefty 1.4% bundled plans with surcharging to new small business clients.
The ASX faces “further regulatory steps” to improve its governance and risk culture, following batch payments failure incident in December 2024.
Digital & Online
Qantas remains upbeat that its Loyalty division can continue grow at 10-12% each year despite dark warnings from card schemes about the interchange caps that underpin the program.
+2
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.
With the days of fee cross-subsidisation for bank rewards card programs coming to an end, CommBank is slashing its partners and amping up rhetoric in opposition to the Reserve Bank’s proposed interchange fee reductions.
A joint consultation on the future vision for A2A payments in Australia by AP+ and AusPayNet has wrapped up, with 60 submissions received - none of which will be published in full.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday moved to head off criticism of the data it used in its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging consultation paper.
The ACCC prefers to do nothing when state and federal government agencies such as Transport for NSW enter deals that stifle competition in the payments industry.
Despite an RBA prompted inquiry into A2A and plenty of warnings from fintechs like Zepto and Volt, a lack of industry coordination or tough regulation looks set to keep BECS operating well beyond 2030.
The federal court has ruled that Apple and Google’s app stores had no protections against anti-competitive behaviour.
With Treasury spokesman Ted O’Brien missing in action, mixed messages have come from coalition leadership on card payments and surcharging.
Luxembourg-based Banking Circle is preparing to challenge Cuscal’s dominance of payments outsourcing after local regulators approved its buyout of Australian Settlements Ltd.
Assistant Treasurer, Dr Daniel Mulino, has introduced legislation that paves the way for the Government to tackle payments issues such as the dominance of Apple Pay on mobile and blended rates for card payments.
The ACCC reiterated the vital role that cash plays in the Australian economy at a banking conference in Sydney last week, while the big banks celebrated the rise of digital payments.
Cash
The ACCC has sent a strong signal that the government is preparing to open payments competition on Apple iPhones, currently dominated by Apple Pay which has a stranglehold on the iPhone's NFC chip.
The Reserve Bank’s inaction on blended rate plans and its unwillingness to strengthen collective bargaining with banks have narrowed strategic options for small businesses.
Can Beem finally win against Apple, or has the horse bolted?
Facing hugely profitable and highly litigious Visa and Mastercard regulator chose to pull its punches
Despite not being subject to AUSTRAC rules, Next Payments has taken its own initiative on illegal tobacco, shaming banks and others that continue to provide terminals. CEO Tim Wildash simply says, "no (tobacco) licence, no ATM".
New Zealand's Commerce Commission has retained a zero debit interchange option for merchants, continued card surcharging and reduced other interchange fees for businesses accepting Visa and Mastercard payments.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has announced an intention to reduce credit interchange from a cap of 0.80% to 0.30%. The move has been welcomed by merchants across the nation who have for decades unwittingly subsidised rewards programs for the banks.
Taiwanese financial services giant Fubon Financial has applied for an Australian banking licence.
