Update on availability and enablement of least-cost routing for merchants Data as at June 2026 (updated September 2026)

To provide greater transparency on the extent to which providers are supporting least-cost routing (LCR), the Bank publishes the tables below on LCR availability and take-up (enablement) across the major acquirers for ‘card-present’ (or in-person transactions) (Table 1) and ‘card-not-present’ (or online transactions) (Table 2). For the avoidance of doubt, those institutions with the highest rates of LCR enablement do not necessarily provide merchants with the lowest overall payment costs.

Card-present LCR

Table 1: Least-cost Routing of Card-present Debit Card Transactions
Per cent of merchants, June 2026(a)
  Available to merchants Enabled
for merchants		 Not enabled – no active choice Not enabled for merchants – active merchant choice(b) Not enabled for merchants – active acquirer choice on behalf of merchant(b)
Square 100 100 0 0 0
Suncorp 100 77 0 10 13
NAB 100 75 0 0 25
Stripe 100 96 0 4 0
Westpac 100 78 10 0 12
ANZ Worldline 99 76 11 12 1
Tyro 100 88 11 1 0
Fiserv 99 87 13 0 0
CBA 100 52 38 0 10
Adyen(c) 100 31 - - -
Total 100 83 9 1 7

(a) Figures have been rounded to whole percentage points. Consequently, a value of 100 may still mean LCR is not available/enabled for every merchant of that institution. Figures exclude very large (strategic) merchants and merchants that supply their own payment terminals.
(b) An active choice to not enable LCR may be based on (i) price considerations (i.e. routing to the default scheme is already the lowest-cost option, or the cost savings from enabling LCR do not outweigh the implementation costs for the merchant) or (ii) non-price considerations (e.g. a gap in non-price capabilities between the domestic and international schemes).
(c) Data for some categories not available for reporting.

Source: RBA

LCR for in-person transactions continues to be widely available to merchants. As at the end of June 2026, 83 per cent of merchants had LCR enabled for in-person transactions. The Bank expects providers to continue enabling LCR for in-person transactions for merchants that could benefit from it and pass the savings on to merchants. The table includes and is sorted by the column: ‘Not enabled – no active choice’, which represents the remaining merchants whom do not have LCR enabled and for which no active choice for enablement has been made, either by the merchant or their acquirer on their behalf.

Card-not-present LCR

Table 2: Least-cost Routing of Card-not-present Debit Card Transactions
Per cent of merchants, June 2026(a)
  Available
to merchants		 Availability dependent on further work by a gateway or third-party provider Enabled
for merchants
Fat Zebra 100 0 100
Tyro 100 0 71
Adyen 100 0 40
Stripe 100 0 89
Braintree 100 0 100
Fiserv 79 21 20
CBA 59 0 1
Westpac 59 30 11
NAB 31 26 4
ANZ Worldline 22 0 22
Suncorp 0 100 0
Total 98

(a) Figures have been rounded to whole percentage points. Consequently, a value of 100 may still mean LCR is not available/enabled for every merchant of that institution. A value of 0 may mean LCR is available/enabled for some, but only a very small proportion, of merchants of that institution. Figures exclude very large (strategic) merchants and data relating to merchants where the listed institution only provides gateway services.

Source: RBA

LCR for online transactions is now available for 98 per cent of merchants, and take-up by merchants continued to increase throughout the first half of 2026. The Bank continues collecting data on the share of merchants for whom LCR is not available because further work is required by gateways or other third-party providers. These data highlight the role of gateways and other third-party providers in making LCR available for online transactions. While progress has been made, some providers still have more work to do. The Bank expects providers, including payment gateways, to accelerate progress on making LCR widely available for online transactions and enabling LCR for merchants that could benefit from it.

Background on Least-cost Routing

See: Least-cost Routing of Debit Card Transactions for more information, including details on what the Bank is doing on LCR.

Archived updates

The Bank has started publishing updates on LCR availability and enablement data every 6 months.
Previous LCR updates are available.