Inform
5 min read
The RBA Cut Interchange Fees. Just Not the Ones That Affect Your Corporate Cards
Sylvia Luchian
Founder & Head of Procurement Practice
The RBA's March 2026 Conclusions Paper has generated considerable commentary about surcharging, interchange fee reductions, and projected annual savings of $910 million for Australian merchants. Most of that commentary has focused on consumer transactions.
For finance leads, procurement teams, and business owners who use commercial credit cards for purchasing or who accept card payments for business-to-business invoices, there is a specific, underreported finding in the paper that is worth understanding before October 2026.
The interchange fee cap for commercial credit cards is not changing. At all.
The RBA's October 2026 interchange fee changes apply specifically to domestic-issued card transactions acquired in Australia.1 The headline reduction, the one driving most media coverage, is the drop in the consumer credit card interchange cap from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent of transaction value.2 That aligns Australia with the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, where consumer credit card interchange has been capped at 0.3 per cent for some years.
What is less widely understood is that the same reduction does not apply to commercial credit cards.3 The PSB has maintained the commercial credit card interchange cap at 0.8 percent unchanged.
There is an additional complication. The 0.5per cent weighted-average benchmark for commercial credit cards is being abolished from October 2026.4 The benchmark had previously constrained average commercial credit interchange within a band. With the benchmark gone and the cap maintained at 0.8 per cent, average commercial credit interchange could, in practice, drift upward rather than fall.
Key Takeaway: Consumer credit card interchange drops from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent from October 2026. Commercial credit card interchange stays at 0.8 per cent and the abolition of the weighted-average benchmark means average commercial rates could move higher, not lower. This is not asymmetrical reform.
The PSB's reasoning is set out clearly in the Conclusions Paper.5 Maintaining a separate interchange cap for commercial credit cards supports a more even playing field between Mastercard, Visa, and American Express. American Express is the largest issuer of commercial cards in Australia and, on average, these cards cost more for merchants to accept than cards processed through the Mastercard and Visa networks.
Reducing commercial credit interchange to the consumer level would have created a significant competitive advantage for Mastercard and Visa corporate cards relative to American Express whose commercial interchange is not regulated under the current framework.6 The PSB chose to preserve competitive tension between the networks rather than create a structural imbalance favouring two of the three major commercial card issuers.
The regulatory treatment of American Express, a three-party network where the same entity both issues the card and acquires the transaction, is being addressed separately.7 The RBA plans to commence a further review in mid-2026, following the 2025 amendments to the Payment Systems Regulation Act, which will include consideration of public interest issues involving American Express.
Peer jurisdictions provide useful context here.8 The European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand do not regulate interchange on commercial cards at all. In those jurisdictions, commercial credit interchange is entirely uncapped and typically exceeds 1.5 per cent.9 The Australian cap of 0.8 per cent, even unchanged, is materially below uncapped rates in comparable markets.
Key Takeaway: The PSB maintained commercial credit interchange at 0.8 per cent deliberately, to preserve competitive balance between Mastercard, Visa, and American Express. This is a reasoned regulatory decision, not an oversight. It does not change the financial impact on businesses with significant commercial card exposure.
The commercial credit card carve-out is relevant to two distinct groups of Australian businesses. The first is businesses that pay suppliers using corporate credit cards. The second is businesses that accept corporate card payments from their own B2B customers.
If your organisation routes purchasing through corporate credit cards for travel, expenses, operating costs, or business-to-business purchasing, the interchange cost embedded in your supplier's merchant service fee is not going to fall in October 2026. Your supplier will still be paying 0.8 per cent interchange on commercial card transactions, and that cost remains embedded in the prices or terms you negotiate.
This matters particularly for businesses that had assumed the October 2026 reforms would reduce the effective cost of corporate card purchasing across the board. They will not. Consumer spending on personal credit cards becomes cheaper to process. Business-to-business purchasing on corporate cards does not.
The practical implication: any review of your corporate card programme should not be deferred on the assumption that October 2026 produces automatic savings. For this category, it does not.
If your business accepts card payments from corporate customers for invoices or B2B transactions, the interchange cost on those transactions stays at 0.8 per cent through 2026 and into 2027 at least, pending the mid-2026 American Express review.10 For businesses with material B2B card revenue, this is a significant planning consideration.
Foreign-issued cards carry an even higher cost and represent a disproportionate share of total interchange paid by merchants.11 Foreign-issued card account for approximately 3 per cent of Australian card transactions but represent around 20 per cent of total interchange fees paid by merchants. A cap of 1.0 per cent applies to foreign-issued card transactions from April 2027. Until that date, there is no regulatory ceiling on what merchants pay to accept foreign-issued commercial cards.
Key Takeaway: If your revenue includes a material proportion of B2B corporate card payments, the October 2026 reforms do not reduce your acceptance cost for those transactions. Review your payment method mix and model what encouraging lower-cost alternatives would mean for your margins.
The commercial credit card carve-out creates specific action items depending on which side of the transaction your business sits on.
1. Audit your corporate card spend: Map total annual spend by category. Identify which categories carry the highest embedded interchange cost and whether alternative payment methods, bank transfer, direct debit, virtual account payment, are viable for those categories. The working capital benefits of a corporate card programme need to be weighed against the embedded cost of acceptance at 0.8 per cent interchange throughout the supply chain.
2. Review your B2B payment acceptance mix: Calculate what proportion of your B2B revenue is processed on commercial cards versus lower-cost alternatives. Model the saving available if a portion shifted to bank transfer or direct debit. For large B2B customers, a conversation about payment method is a legitimate commercial conversation, particularly when the cost differential is documented.
3. Check your merchant service fee for commercial card transactions specifically: If you are on a blended or single-rate plan, your statement does not distinguish between what you pay on consumer cards and commercial cards. Request a breakdown from your provider that separates the two. From October 2026, statements must show certain cost breakdowns by card type. Use that data to identify whether commercial card acceptance is a material cost line in your business.
4. Do not wait for the mid-2026 American Express review: The RBA has flagged a review commencing in mid-2026 addressing three-party card networks including American Express. That review is not a commitment to reduce commercial interchange. It is an inquiry. Make procurement decisions based on current regulatory settings, not on anticipated future changes whose outcome and timeline are not confirmed.
5. Model your October 2026 position clearly: Before October 2026, run a complete analysis of your payment cost position under the new settings. Which costs fall? Which stay the same? Which might increase due to the abolition of the commercial card benchmark? The reform is not uniformly positive for businesses with significant commercial card exposure. Know your specific position before the changes take effect.
Key Takeaway: The businesses that benefit from October 2026are those whose costs actually fall under the new settings. For significant commercial card exposure, as a payer or a recipient, the calculus is different. Run the numbers specific to your business before assuming the headlines apply to you.
Across five themes, the same argument has surfaced indifferent forms.
The RBA's 2026 Conclusions Paper is not a uniform good news story for Australian businesses. It is a nuanced regulatory document that produces different outcomes for different categories of merchant, different card types, and different business models. The headline, surcharging ends, interchange fees fall, transparency improves, is accurate as far as it goes. It does not go far enough for businesses making specific procurement and financial decisions.
The bundling problem affects businesses whose merchant service fees include costs they cannot see. The inertia premium affects businesses whose payment arrangements have not been reviewed in years. What regulators should not have to do applies to every unreviewed cost category, not just payment processing. The transparency playbook gives businesses a structured process for using the October 2026 data to negotiate better terms. This final theme applies specifically to B2B-focused businesses where the October 2026 reforms produce no automatic saving and may produce a higher effective cost.
In every case, the outcome for a specific business depends on whether someone in that business has taken the time to understand their specific position. Regulation creates conditions. It does not deliver outcomes. The outcomes require someone to do the procurement work.
Key Takeaway: The October 2026 interchange fee reductions apply to consumer credit cards and debit cards. They do not apply to commercial credit cards, which remain at 0.8 per cent. The abolition of the commercial card benchmark could push average commercial interchange higher. Businesses with significant corporate card spend or B2B card acceptance need to model their October 2026 position specifically, not assume that the headline savings apply to their transaction mix. The RBA has created conditions for lower payment costs. For commercial card exposure, those conditions do not yet exist.
The fifth theme in this series is the most targeted. It is relevant to a specific subset of Australian businesses, those with material B2B card spend or corporate card revenue. For those businesses, it is the most commercially significant theme in the series.
For everyone else, it is a useful reminder that regulatory reform rarely lands evenly. The businesses that navigate the October 2026 changes most effectively will be the ones that understood their specific transaction mix before the changes took effect, not the ones that assumed the industry-level headlines described their individual position.
If you would like to model your specific October 2026 payment cost position including the commercial credit card impact, the consumer interchange savings, and the effect of any bundled non-payment services in your current merchant service fee, D1 Advisory's cost reduction and commercial contract services cover this directly. A discovery call takes around 45 minutes. No referral fee. No kickback arrangements. Book through the D1 Advisory website.
Reserve Bank of Australia 2026a, 'Interchange Fees', Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging — Conclusions Paper, RBA, Sydney, March 2026, viewed 23 April 2026,<https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-retail-payments-regulation/2026-03/conclusions-paper/interchange-fees.html>
Reserve Bank of Australia 2026b, 'Competition in Card Acquiring Services', Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging —Conclusions Paper, RBA, Sydney, March 2026, viewed 23 April 2026,<https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-retail-payments-regulation/2026-03/conclusions-paper/competition-in-card-acquiring-services.html>
Reserve Bank of Australia 2026c, 'Executive Summary', Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging — Conclusions Paper, RBA, Sydney, March 2026, viewed 23 April 2026,<https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-retail-payments-regulation/2026-03/conclusions-paper/executive-summary.html>
Reserve Bank of Australia 2025, 'Interchange', Summary of Submissions to the Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging Consultation Paper, RBA, Sydney, viewed 23 April 2026,<https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-retail-payments-regulation/2025-07/summary-of-submissions-to-the-consultation-paper/interchange.html>
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