While the consumer credit card cap was cut to 0.3% on 1 October, the Reserve Bank left the cap on commercial credit cards at 0.8%, changing only how it is measured.

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%.

That stands out because almost every other part of the interchange framework moved on 1 October 2026. The consumer credit card cap fell to 0.3%, debit and prepaid cards moved to a new structure, and a cap on foreign-issued cards is due next year. Commercial credit is the one category where the headline number stayed put.

Where the 0.8% sits in the new framework

The RBA's conclusions paper sets out the interchange caps that took effect from 1 October 2026:

  • Consumer credit cards: capped at 0.3%, with the weighted-average benchmark removed.
  • Commercial credit cards: unchanged at 0.8%, with the weighted-average benchmark removed.
  • Debit and prepaid cards: capped at 8 cents plus 0.16% per transaction, with the weighted-average benchmark staying at 8 cents.
  • Foreign-issued cards: a 1.0% cap from 1 April 2027.

So commercial credit cards did not escape the overhaul entirely. The cap itself held, but the removal of the weighted-average benchmark is a structural change. Under the new arrangement, the 0.8% figure is the cap that applies, without a separate benchmark sitting alongside it.

The contrast with consumer cards is sharp. A consumer credit card transaction now carries an interchange cap of 0.3%, while a commercial credit card transaction can carry up to 0.8%. The gap is a deliberate distinction between the two categories.

Surcharging rules still apply to business payments

Holding the commercial cap steady does not mean business cards are outside the rest of the reform. Surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards ended on 1 October 2026, and the RBA's surcharging FAQs make clear that business-to-business payments are not exempt by default.

That matters for firms that sell to other firms and had previously added a fee for card payments. The FAQs also address timing: card payments made on or after 1 October cannot be surcharged even if the invoice was issued earlier. An invoice raised in September and paid by card in October falls under the new rules.

Exemptions are not something the RBA hands out. In the words of the FAQs: "Whether any exemptions are available is a decision for each card network, not the RBA." Not-for-profits are likewise not exempt by default.

American Express credit card surcharging also ended on 1 October 2026. Amex is not formally regulated by the RBA, but its surcharges ended on the same day as those on the regulated networks.

Some charges remain permitted because they are not card surcharges. Businesses can build payment costs into their prices, offer discounts including for cash, and apply weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees. Terminal rental and processing fees that a merchant pays are also not surcharges.

Why the business-card detail matters

For a business accepting cards, the interchange cap is one of the building blocks of the merchant service fee it pays. A business whose customers mostly pay with consumer credit cards is in a different position from one whose customers mostly pay with commercial cards, since the caps on those two categories now differ by half a percentage point.

The RBA's broader estimate is that the reforms will reduce card issuers' revenue by around $660 million a year, assuming no change in behaviour.

The RBA expects small merchants, most of which do not have strategic interchange rates, to gain the most from the changes. Whether a particular business benefits, and by how much, depends on the mix of cards its customers use and on how much of the change its acquirer passes on.

Transparency, and how the reform got here

One way businesses may be able to see how these caps play out is through the new reporting regime. The RBA requires card networks to publish aggregate interchange and scheme fee data, and acquirers to publish merchant service fee data. The first publication is due by 30 October 2026, covering 1 July to 30 September 2026, with subsequent releases within 30 days of the end of each quarter.

Acquirers must also publish a measure of interchange pass-through, with the first due by 30 January 2027. Changes to merchant statements are due by 1 April 2027, and the card networks' Scheme Fee Roadmaps are expected by the same date.

Because the first data release covers the quarter before the new caps took effect, it will serve more as a baseline than a verdict. Later releases should give a clearer picture of how fees move across card categories once the 0.3% consumer cap and the unchanged 0.8% commercial cap have been in place for a full quarter.

The RBA's review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging began in October 2024. It drew more than 260 written submissions and involved around 150 meetings before conclusions were reached.

The central judgement was that "surcharging no longer works as intended". The RBA found that most businesses did not surcharge: 85% of small merchants and 89% of large merchants did not, and around 16% of Australian businesses did. Consumers paid an estimated $1.6 billion of the $1.8 billion in annual card surcharges.

Implementation also comes at a cost to the industry. The RBA estimates payment service providers will spend around $25 million putting the changes in place. On prices, it does not expect a material change in the total amount paid at merchants that used to surcharge, and it describes the inflation effect of any rounding up as "negligible".

There is a wider backdrop as well. The Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 was amended in December 2025 to extend its coverage, and a separate Review of Payments System Regulation expects to set out regulatory priorities by the end of 2026 and reach conclusions in 2028.

The bottom line

The commercial credit card cap is one of the few figures in the overhaul that did not move. It remains at 0.8%, against a new consumer credit cap of 0.3%, though the weighted-average benchmark that used to sit alongside it has gone. Business-to-business payments are still caught by the end of surcharging, and payments on or after 1 October cannot be surcharged regardless of when they were invoiced. Exemptions, if any, are for the card networks to decide. The quarterly fee data due from 30 October should give businesses a clearer view of how the different caps flow through to what they pay.