With surcharges gone and new interchange caps in place, the Reserve Bank's card reforms now move into a disclosure phase that culminates in Scheme Fee Roadmaps expected by 1 April 2027.

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 put card networks' and acquirers' fees on the public record, quarter after quarter.

At the far end of that timetable sit the Scheme Fee Roadmaps, which the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) expects card networks to produce by 1 April 2027. The RBA's conclusions paper lists the roadmaps alongside a set of other transparency measures, and together they form the test of whether the fees behind card payments become easier to see and compare.

A disclosure timetable in four steps

The RBA's conclusions paper sets out the publication schedule in sequence:

  • By 30 October 2026: card networks publish aggregate interchange and scheme fee data, and acquirers publish merchant service fee data, covering 1 July to 30 September 2026. After that, both are due within 30 days of the end of each quarter.
  • By 30 January 2027: acquirers publish their first interchange pass-through measure.
  • By 1 April 2027: changes to merchant statements take effect.
  • By 1 April 2027: Scheme Fee Roadmaps are expected from card networks.

The timing means the first data release, due in under three weeks, covers a quarter that ended before the new caps applied. It will be a starting point rather than an assessment of the reforms. Releases covering later quarters will show the period after 1 October.

The Scheme Fee Roadmaps come last. The RBA materials summarised here set the expected date but do not spell out the roadmaps' contents, so their detail is something to watch rather than something that can yet be described with confidence. What is clear is where they fit: they arrive after several quarters of published scheme fee data and alongside the reshaped merchant statements.

Why scheme fees are part of the story

Interchange has drawn most of the regulatory attention, and the caps changed substantially on 1 October. The consumer credit card cap fell to 0.3%, with its weighted-average benchmark removed. The commercial credit cap stayed at 0.8%, also without its benchmark. Debit and prepaid cards moved to a cap of 8 cents plus 0.16% per transaction, with the weighted-average benchmark remaining at 8 cents. A 1.0% cap on foreign-issued cards follows from 1 April 2027.

Scheme fees are a separate component. The new requirement for card networks to publish aggregate interchange and scheme fee data together brings both into the same quarterly disclosure. The roadmaps, expected by the same date as the merchant statement changes, extend the focus on scheme fees further.

For merchants, the significance is in what becomes comparable. Merchant service fee data from acquirers, an interchange pass-through measure and redesigned statements all point in the same direction: making it easier to see what a business is paying to accept cards and how much of any change in interchange is reaching it.

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. The conclusion that "surcharging no longer works as intended" was the headline, but the review also produced the transparency measures now being rolled out.

The RBA's own estimates show why it matters who gets what. Consumers paid an estimated $1.6 billion of the $1.8 billion in annual card surcharges. The reforms are expected to reduce card issuers' revenue by around $660 million a year, assuming no behaviour change, with payment service providers bearing around $25 million in implementation costs across the industry. The RBA expects small merchants, most of which do not have strategic rates, to gain the most.

Whether those gains materialise in practice is where disclosure comes in. An interchange cap sets a limit; published data on merchant service fees and pass-through shows how fees actually move once that limit changes.

Part of a wider payments agenda

The card reforms are not happening in isolation. The Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 was amended in December 2025 to extend its coverage, and the RBA is conducting a broader Review of Payments System Regulation. An issues paper was released on 25 June 2026, submissions closed on 7 August, and the RBA expects to set out its regulatory priorities by the end of 2026, consult on them by mid-2027 and publish conclusions in 2028. A summary of submissions was published on 6 October 2026.

The Payments System Board has also signalled a willingness to push industry along. In its August 2026 update, the Board welcomed the account-to-account (A2A) Payments Vision, but warned that if industry cannot make coordinated progress, "the Board encourages the RBA to consider further action to achieve outcomes in the public interest".

That statement concerned account-to-account payments rather than card networks, but it reflects the posture of the Board more generally: it prefers industry-led progress while keeping regulatory options on the table. The Scheme Fee Roadmaps will be one of the first chances to see how card networks respond to a transparency expectation set by the RBA.

What merchants and consumers can still expect

For consumers, the most immediate change has already happened. Surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards ended on 1 October, and American Express credit card surcharging also ended that day, even though Amex is not formally regulated by the RBA. The RBA does not expect a material change in the total price paid at merchants that used to surcharge, and it describes the inflation effect of any rounding up as "negligible".

For merchants, some pricing tools remain. Payment costs can be built into sticker prices, discounts can be offered, including for cash, and weekend and public holiday surcharges, booking fees and service fees are not card surcharges. On exemptions from the ban, the RBA's FAQs state: "Whether any exemptions are available is a decision for each card network, not the RBA."

The disclosure milestones give both groups something concrete to watch. The first quarterly data is due by 30 October, the pass-through measure by the end of January, and the merchant statement changes and Scheme Fee Roadmaps by 1 April 2027.

The bottom line

The surcharge ban was the reform's opening act; disclosure is the follow-through. Between 30 October 2026 and 1 April 2027, card networks and acquirers face a run of deadlines that will put interchange, scheme fees and merchant service fees into the public domain. The Scheme Fee Roadmaps, expected by 1 April 2027, close that sequence. Their detail is yet to be seen, but their timing makes them a key marker of whether the RBA's push for transparency in card costs is taking hold.