Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Phase 3 Appendix D: Varied Standards

Conclusions Paper
March 2026

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D.1 Transition arrangements for the 2026/27 financial year

As outlined in Chapter 8: Impact and Implementation, many policies will come into effect part way through the 2026/27 financial year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027). This section provides an overview of the transitional arrangements for that financial year and outlines some key requirements. This section is not intended to be an exhaustive explanation of the variations to the Standards. See section D.2 for further details.

Standards No. 1 and No. 2 of 2016

Wholesale fee transparency

As outlined in Appendix C: Transparency Requirements, designated card networks would be required to report data relating to their interchange fees and scheme fees (including gross scheme fees and rebates). This would occur on a quarterly basis, with the first publication of data occurring on 30 October 2026 which would cover the quarter 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026 inclusive. See section C.1 for more information.

Changes to caps and benchmarks for interchange fees

Table 24 indicates the timeline for changes in the interchange caps and benchmarks set by the RBA. Changes for domestic-issued transactions acquired in Australia will come into effect on 1 October 2026, while caps on interchange fees for foreign-issued transactions acquired in Australia will come into effect on 1 April 2027.

Table 24: Changes to the RBA’s interchange caps and benchmarks
Designated card networks (eftpos, Mastercard, Visa)
Type of transaction acquired in Australia Until
30 September 2026		 1 October 2026 –
31 March 2027		 1 April 2027
onwards
Domestic-issued debit and prepaid cards Current caps and benchmark apply New caps and benchmark applies
Domestic-issued credit cards Current caps and benchmark apply Separate interchange caps for consumer and commercial cards apply; benchmark abolished
Foreign-issued debit and prepaid cards Not regulated New interchange cap of 1.0 per cent applies
Foreign-issued credit cards Not regulated New interchange cap of 1.0 per cent applies

Source: RBA.

Net compensation

The net compensation provisions operate to prevent circumvention of interchange fee caps and benchmarks through rebates via the card networks. There are two key changes being made to the rules surrounding net compensation received by Direct Issuer Participants.

Inclusion of receipts from overseas-acquired transactions

Direct Issuer Participant receipts in respect of both domestic and overseas acquired transactions using domestic-issued cards will be included for the purposes of assessing whether net compensation is received by Direct Issuers in Australia. This amendment is to update the RBA’s Standards to be consistent with existing industry practice.

Direct Issuers typically need to comply with the net compensation provisions in respect of a financial year. The changes are to come into effect on 1 October 2026, which is part-way through the 2026/27 financial year. As many issuers may already be complying with the new requirements, this may mean no practical change for the purposes of certifying compliance. For the financial year 2026/27, Direct Issuers will be able to certify their compliance with the new requirements (that include overseas-acquired transactions). Alternatively, Direct Issuers may choose to certify their compliance with the requirements as in effect on 30 September 2026 for the financial year 2026/27 if they wish. Direct Issuers will need to notify the relevant card network of their choice of transitional arrangements in accordance with clause 7.6 of Standard No. 1 or Standard No. 2 (as varied).

Clarifying treatment of foreign-sponsored issuers

The Standards will clarify that Australian issuers sponsored into a card network via a foreign entity will be considered a Direct Issuer Participant and are therefore required to certify their compliance with the net compensation provisions.

This requirement will come into effect on 1 October 2026. As this is part way through a financial year, the RBA will effectively treat these issuers as a ‘New Issuer’ having commenced issuing cards on 1 October 2026, consistent with the principles outlined in the guidance provided for new issuers.78 For these new issuers, the ‘Initial Reporting Period’ will therefore be 1 October 2026 to 30 June 2028 and these issuers will be first required to certify their compliance for this period by 31 July 2028.

Summary table of transitional arrangements for reporting and certification

Table 25: Transition arrangements for reporting and certification under Standards No. 1 and No. 2
Relevant clause Description of requirement First reporting period First reporting deadline
6.2 Reporting non-multilateral interchange fees for domestic transactions 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027 31 July 2027
6.2A Reporting non-multilateral interchange fees for foreign-issued transactions 1 April 2027 – 30 June 2027 31 July 2027
6.3 Reporting compliance for interchange fees on domestic and foreign-issued card transactions For interchange fees on domestic-issued card transactions in the period 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027, designated networks must:
  • Certify compliance for 1 July 2026 – 30 September 2026 under the previous interchange caps and benchmarks
  • Certify compliance for 1 October – 30 June 2027 under the new caps
    (and benchmarks if applicable).

For interchange fees on foreign-issued card transactions in the period 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027:
  • No certification of compliance is required for 1 July 2027 – 31 March 2027 (as caps do not apply)
  • Designated networks must certify compliance for 1 April 2027 – 30 June 2027 for new foreign interchange caps.
 31 July 2027
6.4 Certifying compliance with net compensation provisions
  • Existing Direct Issuer Participants can elect to comply with clauses 5 and 6.4 for the full year ending 30 June 2027, either as those clauses of the Standards were on 30 September 2026 or as varied with effect from 1 October 2026. If no election is made, existing Direct Issuer Participants must comply with clauses 5 and 6.4 as they were on 30 September 2026.
  • New Direct Issuer Participants will be required to comply with the net compensation provisions and certify compliance in respect of the period 1 October 2026 – 30 June 2028.
 Existing Issuers: 31 July 2027
New Issuers: 31 July 2028
6.7 Providing data on interchange fees and transactions relating to foreign-issued card transactions acquired in Australia 1 October 2026 - 31 December 2026 30 January 2027
6.8-6.15 Publication of wholesale fee data 1 July 2026 - 30 September 2026 30 October 2026

Source: RBA.

Standard No. 3 of 2016

The key changes in Standard No. 3 include:

  • removing the prohibition on ‘no surcharge rules’
  • removing the exclusion for payment of taxi fares using designated network cards
  • requiring acquirers to publish their merchant service fees on a quarterly basis (see section C.2)
  • amending the information that acquirers are required to provide on merchants’ statements (see section C.3)
  • requiring acquirers to publish their interchange pass-through rate for four quarters following the new caps (and benchmark) for interchange fees for domestic-issued cards acquired in Australia (see section C.2).
Table 26: Transitional arrangements for acquirer transparency initiatives
Relevant clause Description of requirement First reporting period First reporting deadline
7.1 Large acquirers publish their merchant service fees 1 July 2026 – 30 September 2026 30 October 2026
7.2(b) Monthly merchant statements – updated requirements

For a Statement Period commencing before 1 October 2026, acquirers must comply with the Standard as it was in effect on 30 September 2026.

For any Statement Period commencing on or after 1 October 2026 and before 1 April 2027, acquirers may comply with clause 7.2(b) of the Standard as it was in effect on 30 September 2026 or as varied with effect from 1 October 2026 (i.e. the relevant requirements under the current Standard or the updated requirements under the varied Standard).

For any Statement Period commencing on or after 1 April 2027, acquirers must comply with the Standard as varied.

 First full monthly statement starting on or after 1 October 2026; or if relying on the transitional arrangements until 31 March 2027, then the first full monthly statement starting on or after 1 April 2027.
7.2(c) Annual merchant statements (i.e. last merchant statement in the financial year) – updated requirements No requirements for annual merchant statements to apply for the 2026/27 financial year New requirements apply starting from the 2027/28 financial year
7.4 Large acquirers publish their interchange pass-through rate 1 October 2026 – 31 December 2026 30 January 2027

Source: RBA.

D.2 Varied Standards

This section includes the set of Standards incorporating the variations that the RBA intends to determine and lodge for registration on the Federal Register of Legislation. These Standards have been marked up to show the changes to the existing Standards for stakeholders’ ease of comparison between the current Standards and the Standards as intended to be varied by the RBA with effect on and from 1 October 2026.

Endnotes

78 See RBA (undated), ‘Guidance for New Issuers on Certification under Standard No. 1 of 2016 and Standard No. 2 of 2016’.

Continue to ‘Standard No.1 of 2016’