Economic News

Twelve days in, the most visible effect of the card surcharge ban is the line that is no longer on the receipt. Since 1 October 2026, merchants can no longer add a surcharge when customers pay with eftpos, Mastercard or Visa debit or credit …

Every regulatory overhaul comes with a bill, and the end of card surcharging in Australia is no exception. When surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards ended on 1 October 2026, terminals had to be reconfigured, pricing systems updated and new …

Most of the attention on Australia's card payment reforms has gone to the end of surcharging at the checkout. Less noticed is a quieter line in the Reserve Bank of Australia's conclusions paper: the interchange cap on commercial credit cards is unchanged at 0.8%.

The end of card surcharging on 1 October 2026 was the part of the reform that shoppers could see. The next stage is less visible but may prove just as important for the businesses that accept cards: a series of publication deadlines that will …

When a shop loses the ability to add a card surcharge at the till, one obvious question follows: will it simply raise its prices instead? At a time when inflation is the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) central concern, that question carries more weight …

For all the attention it has received, the end of card surcharging on 1 October 2026 was a non-event for most Australian businesses. They had never added a fee for paying by card in the first place.

Regulators do not often speak this plainly about the operator of a country's main securities exchange. When the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its 2025/26 assessment of ASX's four clearing and settlement facilities on 23 September 2026, Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System), …