Banks slow to pass on RBA interchange fee cuts to merchants
Only 7 of 20 popular card acceptance schemes have passed on the RBA's 0.5% interchange fee cut.
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut caps on credit card interchange fees from 0.8% to 0.3% of transaction value in October, a 0.5% reduction expected to save merchants $910 million a year. A new analysis of 20 popular card acceptance schemes shows most banks have not yet passed the savings on.
Westpac leads with cuts from 1.2% to 0.79% for point-of-sale payments. Commonwealth Bank, NAB, ANZ Worldline, Zeller, and Shopify have also cut rates, along with Stripe online.
Only Commonwealth Bank's 'interchange plus' plans have passed on the full 0.5% discount. The RBA will require large banks to publish their pass-through rates from January 2027, giving merchants clearer information to shop around.
- from 0.8% to 0.3%
- RBA fee cut
- $910 million
- Potential annual savings
- 20
- Schemes analyzed
- 7
- Schemes that cut rates
Why it mattersSmall businesses were promised major savings from RBA fees cuts, but most are not seeing the benefit yet, and many may not realise it.
AustraliaAustralian small business owners may not see the expected drop in card payment fees, depending on which bank processes their payments.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 11 h ago
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