RBA Card Surcharge Reform: What It Means for Small Business

·April 12, 2026
·Mark Fletcher
·0 Comments

The Reserve Bank of Australia has handed down its long-awaited review of merchant card payment costs. The ban on card surcharges takes effect 1 October 2026. Here is what retailers need to know.

What the RBA Has Decided

The RBA has recommended three key changes to Australia’s payment network.

Surcharge ban from 1 October 2026 — applies to Visa, Mastercard and eftpos. Businesses must absorb card acceptance costs into their sticker price rather than passing them on separately at the point of sale.
New interchange caps on domestic cards — also effective 1 October 2026, intended to reduce the fees businesses pay their bank for processing card payments.
Greater fee transparency — large acquirers will be required to publish wholesale fee data and interchange pass-through rates on the RBA website.

Politicians, of course, aided and abetted by lazy media outlets in service of the banks, crowed for the last week about how good all this is for Aussies, ignoring small business completely.

What this actually means.

If bank fees remain high after the surcharge ban, small businesses will absorb those costs rather than recovering them at the terminal. The cost does not disappear — it becomes embedded in prices, affecting all customers regardless of how they pay.

Who is lobbying on your behalf.

The most effective lobby group on behalf of newsagents and small business retailers is the Independent Payments Forum. Only newsXpress and ALNA are members of the IPF from our channel, financially supporting the IPF work in this vital area.

Key Dates

1 October 2026. Surcharge ban takes effect (Visa, Mastercard, eftpos). New interchange caps on domestic cards begin.
30 October 2026. Large acquirers begin quarterly publication of wholesale fee data. Card networks publish aggregate scheme fee and rebate data.
30 January 2027. Large acquirers publish their interchange pass-through rates.
1 April 2027. New interchange caps on foreign cards take effect.
31 July 2027. Reporting compliance for interchange fees and updated requirements for monthly merchant statements.

Ongoing Concerns for Small Retailers

While the RBA acknowledged many of the problems faced by small businesses, a number of risks remain:

Bank and scheme fees are not capped — businesses cannot surcharge to recover them.
Corporate credit cards (which carry high interchange costs) remain common, including a large Government fleet of NAB corporate cards.
Least-cost routing (LCR) — which directs transactions through the cheapest network — is not yet mandated.
Foreign card interchange caps are delayed until April 2027.
Some fintech terminal providers may exit the market as their business models become unviable under the ban, potentially reducing competition.

My personal view is that the RBA screwed us over, ignoring genuine concerns about small retailers, especially those with minimal control over prices and margin.

The ACCC v Mastercard Case

The ACCC is returning to the Federal Court in a four-year case against Mastercard. The case alleges Mastercard struck a deal with major retailers to defeat the RBA’s least-cost routing rule, in exchange for cheaper credit card fees. The outcome could have significant implications for card fee competition in Australia.

Why this matters.

As things stand, you have a cost recovery option available today about to be ripped from you, adding to your operating costs and, I think, empowering the banks.

You need to support organisations representing you. If you are in a marketing group, ask what they are doing, ask for the receipts (evidence) of what they are doing. If you are in an association, ask the same question.

Again, as of right now, newsXpress and ALNA are the two organisations in our channel involved with and supporting the vital work of the IPF on this matter. Their website lists their member organisations.