RBA card surcharge ban ran on flawed data, ATIA chief tells summit
The Australian Travel Industry Association has told its members the Reserve Bank of Australia built the card surcharge ban on data that missed what customers pay.
ATIA chief executive Dean Long delivered the verdict at the Beyond Borders summit in Melbourne on 9 October 2026. He said the call was “absolutely made” on flawed data by the RBA payment system board.
“Bad data leads to bad decisions, which leads to bad consumer outcomes, and the RBA has unfortunately had a shocker on this instance,” he said.
What Long said about the figures
Long said that on the figures the RBA publishes, only 16 per cent of all transactions in Australia attract a surcharge. The line drew laughter in the room.
He recalled a closed RBA briefing where he asked about 30 people in the room whether they had avoided a surcharge on recent purchases. No hand went up, he said.
ATIA said the data behind the reforms came from institutions with a direct financial interest in the outcome and does not reflect the Australian marketplace.
What the RBA decided
The RBA published its Conclusions Paper for the Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging on 31 March 2026. The paper found that 16 per cent of Australian merchants surcharged designated network card payments in the 2024/25 financial year, charging about $1.8 billion in surcharges.
The RBA put consumer payments at about $1.6 billion of that total and business payments at about $0.2 billion.
The paper estimated the aggregate effect on measured consumer prices at about 0.1 per cent. It put the system cost of removing surcharging at about $25 million.
The merchant figure counts businesses that apply a surcharge. Long spoke about the share of transactions that carry one.
What changed on 1 October
From 1 October 2026 businesses can no longer apply a surcharge to card payments on the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks. The RBA lifted its prohibition on no-surcharge rules from that date, and each network imposes the ban through its own rules.
American Express, UnionPay and PayPal also removed surcharging. Lower interchange fee caps apply to domestic card transactions from 1 October.
The RBA's own FAQs state the changes apply only to surcharges added because a customer pays by card. They do not cover weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees. Hospitality businesses can still apply weekend and public holiday surcharges.
The bill for travel and hotel businesses
ATIA said the interchange cut, from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent on domestic consumer cards, left the rest of the cost in place. Once scheme and acquirer fees are added, ATIA puts total payment cost for travel businesses at 1 per cent of transaction value or more.
ATIA warned members that prices across airfares, hotel bookings, tours and agent service fees would need to rise by at least 1 per cent from 1 October to absorb costs that can no longer be recovered through a surcharge.
Long said: “Around 50 per cent of our industry’s transactions are on card and 50 per cent are going to have to pay more.”
ATIA data covering the past decade puts card payments at about half of all travel industry transactions each year.
For accommodation, the RBA published an industry table that covers the 2023/24 financial year and more than 800,000 merchants. It records 8 per cent of travel merchants applying a surcharge, in a group the RBA lists as travel agencies, hotels and accommodation. About 10 per cent of merchants in the sample surcharged.
The RBA declined the invitation
The RBA did not attend Beyond Borders this year. “We did invite the RBA to come here today. They declined. Not sure why,” Long told delegates.
He noted American Express attended, with a different position on surcharging. “Would have been very easy for AmEx not to turn up today,” he said.
Rates, and what comes next
Long said the ban had locked in another interest rate rise. “In making this decision, the RBA has 100 per cent locked in another interest rate rise,” he said.
The reforms take effect in stages. On 30 October 2026 designated card networks and large acquirers must begin publishing specified information about card payment fees. On 30 January 2027 large acquirers must publish how reductions in interchange fees reached merchant service fees. On 1 April 2027 interchange fee caps apply to foreign-issued card transactions acquired in Australia.