Commentary

PayDay News turns two as annual growth tops 200%

Oct 6, 2026

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PayDay News turns two as annual growth tops 200%

PayDay News marks its second birthday this week, with a new platform, more than 1,000 published articles and a growing global audience following our detailed coverage of Australian and New Zealand payments news.

Featured

Oct 6, 2026

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Will AI agents capsize bank customer “loyalty”?

AI agents could soon turn customer inertia into “find me a better deal” for my banking, without sacrificing anyone’s Sunday arvo.

Commentary

Be careful what you wish for. The inevitable outcome of the surcharge ban

Sep 29, 2026

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Be careful what you wish for. The inevitable outcome of the surcharge ban

Despite claims of savings for Aussie consumers and businesses that may come with the Reserve Bank’s decision on card fees and surcharging, there are definite winners out of all of this, and they are not Australian. Payments Expert Brad Kelly cuts through the spin.

Commentary

Sep 22, 2026

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Three-party card schemes? Count again.

The distinction between three and four party schemes in Australia is increasingly blurry, writes Vibhu Arya.

Commentary

Sep 18, 2026

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NSW Treasury's big payments bet

$200 billion-plus. That is the scale and opportunity around NSW Government's annual payment activity, with money moving in and out of government every day.

Commentary

Sep 16, 2026

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November 1 is when things get messy

When the first post-surcharging merchant statements hit struggling small businesses on 1 November, expect a loud and ugly reaction to the bill shock.

Regulation

Sep 10, 2026

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The fault lines in Australia's payments

Commentator Vibhu Arya breaks down the recent RBA submissions, analysing who is lobbying for what at a high level.

Commentary

Australian payments talent has grown up and grown fast

Sep 9, 2026

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Australian payments talent has grown up and grown fast

Payments talent recruiter and CEO of Paralel Craig Danvers looks at change in the Australian payments market over the past decade – a period that has seen the industry roughly double in size to more than 10,000 people.

Cash

Sep 2, 2026

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Despite mandating cards, cash still rules the till in Italy

If Australian banks are trying to kill cash, Italy offers a fascinating warning: even mandating electronic payment acceptance across virtually the entire economy has failed to dislodge notes and coins.

Commentary

CBA Discover deal to shake up local card market

Aug 26, 2026

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CBA Discover deal to shake up local card market

Amongst the noise of CommBank’s announcement about its Yello rewards program there was a more significant announcement that has rocked the card schemes - Australia’s biggest bank just partnered with Discover.

Commentary

Aug 19, 2026

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AI commerce won't change payments much

Contributor Vibhu Arya explores the impact of AI and how much of a role it will play in the payments industry.

A2A

Reforms converge to reshape PayTo protections as demand for card alternative grows

Aug 12, 2026

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Reforms converge to reshape PayTo protections as demand for card alternative grows

Three reforms are converging to strengthen PayTo, delivering stronger consumer protections, clearer fraud liability and greater confidence in account-to-account payments as merchants search for trusted, low-cost alternatives to cards.

A2A

What can we learn from Malaysia on A2A retail?

Aug 12, 2026

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What can we learn from Malaysia on A2A retail?

Ubiquitous, domestically-owned, cheaper and faster, account-to-account (A2A) retail payments are booming in Malaysia, so why isn’t it taking off in Australia?

Surcharging

Aug 5, 2026

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The end of surcharging or the rise of convenience fees?

Vibhu Arya, the former Country Leader for Payments & Financial Services at IKEA Australia New Zealand, writes that when surcharging disappears on October 1, the question that matters is which businesses will still be able to recover them?

A2A

Jul 29, 2026

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Why isn't the NPP at the checkout?

Nearly a decade after the NPP launched, you still can't use it to pay for your coffee, your haircut, or your movie ticket. As the RBA launches its next review of retail payments Vibhu Arya, the former Country Leader for Payments & Financial Services at IKEA Australia New Zealand, explores why he thinks better NPP access for fintechs will open the door to A2A payments in retail.

Commentary

Jul 15, 2026

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Getting paid is priority 1. Always

Last week’s Telstra outage reminded us that getting paid is the most important thing that a business does. Treat it accordingly.

Commentary

Is high-cost “Ultra” premium debit really the future of rewards?

Jul 1, 2026

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Is high-cost “Ultra” premium debit really the future of rewards?

As we move through the next phases of the RBA’s changes, we will learn exactly how the schemes and issuers intend to keep interchange as high as possible and merchants paying for cardholder privileges. Could Revolut’s high-cost, single-network “Ultra” card be part of that answer?

Merchant Service Fees

Peaking too early - beware premature terminal offers

Jun 24, 2026

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Peaking too early - beware premature terminal offers

Ahead of the publication of new interchange rates and “no surcharge” rules being imposed on October 1, acquirers are suddenly overflowing with bonus gift cards, fee free periods and soon-to-be-redundant “zero cost EFTPOS” offers. To say that the payments market is in a state of chaos would be an understatement.

Surcharging

Is Amex sleepwalking into regulatory and customer nightmare?

Jun 17, 2026

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Is Amex sleepwalking into regulatory and customer nightmare?

By imposing its “no surcharge" rule on Australia’s merchants, Amex has just opened the door for regulators to step in, and they might just drag the banks' interchange holiday on corporate cards along with them.

Merchant Service Fees

The RBA hasn't banned surcharges — and the difference matters

Jun 10, 2026

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The RBA hasn't banned surcharges — and the difference matters

Misunderstanding the scope of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s change of position will cost merchants real money and acquirers real customers — and that's a surcharge nobody agreed to.

Fintech

May 20, 2026

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Cuscal and Tyro – A tale of two cities

Perception is everything in the financial markets and right now investors like Cuscal but have serious doubts about Tyro’s future, creating a mammoth task for CEO Nigel Lee to re-establish confidence.

Merchant Service Fees

Wake up! Only 162 days before surcharge ban kicks in

Apr 22, 2026

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Wake up! Only 162 days before surcharge ban kicks in

With just 162 days left until the first round of changes to Australia’s retail payment system, the payments industry is having mixed reactions to the most significant changes in a generation, but you wouldn’t know it.

Fintech

+10

ParliPay - hours of action-packed TV with a pinch of fiction

Mar 4, 2026

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ParliPay - hours of action-packed TV with a pinch of fiction

Last week I spent two days watching the parade of banking and payment seniors strut their stuff in Canberra at the House Economics Committee – the ParliPay hearings.

Merchant Service Fees

Velocity flies into the interchange and surcharge storm

Nov 12, 2025

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Velocity flies into the interchange and surcharge storm

While all eyes are on Qantas, Virgin Australia has fired a distress flare on the potential impact of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – saying it could impact both revenue and Velocity cards.