Australia floats removing surcharge on card payments, lowering interchange fee cap

Lowering the cap could save businesses $1.2b in fees per year.

Australia’s central bank is planning to remove surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard, and Visa cards, as well as lowering interchange fees of businesses.

Australian consumers currently pay around $1.2b in card surcharges each year, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said on 16 July 2025, when it released a consultation paper as part of its review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging.

RBA also proposed lowering the cap on interchange fees paid by businesses, which could save them $1.2b in interchange fees a year.

“Surcharging is no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers to make more efficient payment choices,” the central bank said, adding that removing surcharging would make card payments simpler, more transparent, and increase competition in the space.

RBA estimates that around 90% of Australian businesses will be better off under the proposed policies.

“The proposed reductions to interchange caps would benefit small businesses the most, as they tend to pay fees closer to the existing caps. Introducing caps on foreign interchange fees would help to lower fees for all businesses accepting international cards,” the central bank stated.

The RBA will accept feedback on the proposed policy options and draft standards until 26 August 2025.

The central bank said that it will publish its conclusions and an implementation timeline for any regulatory steps by the end of 2025.