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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has confirmed that it plans to lift its ban on “no surcharge” rules across the Visa, Mastercard and eftpos networks.
If the ban is lifted, the three networks are expected to reinstate rules that prevent merchants from adding surcharges.
As covered by Vixio, the RBA’s proposals, which were unveiled in a consultation paper in July 2025, would cover debit, credit and prepaid card transactions and are scheduled to take effect in July 2026.
Scrapping surcharges would mark one of the biggest shifts in Australia’s payments ecosystem since 2003, when the surcharging framework was first introduced.
Prior to 2003, card network rules generally prevented Australian merchants from surcharging, as remains the case in many other developed payments markets.
Alongside the elimination of surcharging, the RBA has also called for further reductions in interchange fee caps to help offset the loss of surcharge-related revenue for merchants.
In addition, the RBA plans to require card networks and “large acquirers” to publish more detailed information on their fees, to help merchants identify better-value deals.
Firms had until August 26, 2025 to provide feedback on the RBA’s proposed policy options and draft standards.
The bigger picture
The RBA’s plans to scrap surcharging are likely to be enacted, and affected firms will have until July 2026 to implement the required changes.
As covered by Vixio, surcharging has become a key factor in Australia’s cost of living debate, and the Albanese government has signalled its intention to put money back in consumers’ pockets by ending it.
The focus on surcharging is becoming a regional trend. In July 2025, New Zealand announced plans to scrap surcharges on in-store card payments as part of a complete overhaul of card fees.
The RBA notes that Australian consumers currently pay around A$1.25bn in surcharges each year.
It believes surcharges can be eliminated and that the resulting shortfall for merchants can be offset by lower interchange fees, which should, in theory, translate into reduced overall merchant service fees.
In the consultation, the RBA notes that some acquirers currently go “beyond the spirit” of the surcharging framework, and have developed products and services that mislead merchants about their true payment costs.
For example, an increasing number of acquirers bundle non-payments services such as data analytics, invoicing and inventory management into the so-called “cost of acceptance” of card payments.
Some market their services as “free” to merchants, but with the wholesale cost of each payment being “automatically” passed to the consumer.
Others incentivise merchants with schemes such as frequent flyer points, with the higher cost of acceptance ultimately passed on to consumers through surcharges.
Surcharges are typically applied through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal or an e-commerce payment gateway.
Acquirers such as Square, Tyro and NAB offer terminals with built-in “automatic surcharging” functions.
These enable merchants to “pass on” payment fees at checkout, with the card surcharge displayed as a separate line item on the receipt.
If the RBA’s proposals are adopted, acquirers will have only 12 months to reconfigure or phase out their current surcharging hardware and software.
Why should you care?
If the RBA allows card networks to reimpose rules, acquirers will be required to make significant changes to their operations.
The way their products and services are structured and marketed will likely require a complete redesign once surcharging is no longer permitted.
The extent of these changes will vary depending on the acquirer’s size, fee model, product mix and marketing approach.
For acquirers with significant market share, the RBA’s proposed transparency requirements are likely to be the most challenging to comply with.
Under the proposals, acquirers that process more than A$10bn ($6.5bn) in card payments each year would be designated “large acquirers”.
The RBA notes that this threshold is roughly equivalent to 1 percent of Australia’s card payments market.
No later than 30 days after the end of each quarter, large acquirers would be required to publish their average cost of acceptance data for each of the preceding four quarters.
The data should be presented in a table format, as prescribed by the RBA, and should show the average cost of acceptance for each merchant category (“small”, “medium-sized” and “direct”) across the following transaction types:
- Domestic debit and prepaid cards.
- Domestic credit cards.
- International debit and prepaid cards.
- International credit cards.
- All debit cards, prepaid cards and credit cards of any scheme.
A “small” merchant is defined as one that processes A$1m ($650,000) or less in card payments annually.
A “medium-sized” merchant is one that processes between A$1m ($650,000) and A$10m ($6.5m) in card payments annually.
And a “direct” merchant is effectively a catch-all designation that would force acquirers to publish average cost of acceptance data across all merchants.
Large acquirers would be required to publish this data on a dedicated, easily accessible webpage, with links to previous datasets. They would also have to provide the RBA with a copy of the data so that the bank can republish it on its website.
Meeting the central bank’s reporting demands would be an ongoing challenge, requiring timely and diligent input from multiple departments.
Merchant and data teams would likely be responsible for collecting the required data, and compliance teams would oversee its collection and ensure that its publication adheres to RBA standards.
For acquirers, the RBA’s proposals will mean significant operational and strategic adjustments. Their key priorities over the coming months may include:
- Phasing out surcharging models, redesigning pricing and products that rely on passing card fees to consumers.
- Reconfiguring technology by updating or replacing POS and e-commerce systems that have automatic surcharging functions.
- Preparing for transparency rules by capturing and publishing quarterly cost of acceptance data.
- Adjusting revenue planning by modelling the impact of surcharge removal and factoring in reduced interchange fee caps.
- Mobilising early, coordinating across compliance, IT and merchant teams to meet the July 2026 deadline.
Given the scale of the changes required, acquirers will need detailed planning and timely resource allocation to meet that July 2026 deadline.
