Retail Payments March 2026

Release date:

The tables below present a summary of the latest retail payments statistics.

Value of Retail Payments
Value
($ billion)		 Growth
(Per cent)
Monthly Year-ended
Mar 2026 Feb 2026 Mar 2026 Mar 2025 Mar 2026
ATM withdrawals 9.4 1.0 0.6 0.2 4.6
Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards 100.8 −0.1 2.9 8.1 11.6
of which: Credit and charge cards 40.9 −2.0 2.9 7.0 8.5
of which: Debit cards 59.9 1.2 2.9 8.9 13.8
Total balances outstanding on credit and charge cards 44.1 0.8 0.6 0.5 –(a)
of which: Balances accruing interest 21.6 −0.4 0.4 3.7 –(a)
New Payments Platform transactions 241.2 1.3 1.8 21.8 25.9
Cheque payments 12.3 −2.9 0.6 −19.2 −10.4

(a) Growth in credit and charge card total balances outstanding and balances accruing interest has been affected by a significant reporting change by one institution in its November 2025 data.

Source: RBA

Number of Retail Payments
Number
(Million)		 Growth
(Per cent)
Monthly Year-ended
Mar 2026 Feb 2026 Mar 2026 Mar 2025 Mar 2026
ATM withdrawals 27.8 0.1 −0.1 −4.1 −1.4
Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards 1410.1 0.6 1.3 6.0 6.6
of which: Credit and charge cards 333.5 −1.8 0.8 3.6 4.3
of which: Debit cards 1076.6 1.3 1.4 6.8 7.3
Cards on issue 67.0 0.4 0.3 0.9 2.5
of which: Credit and charge cards 16.6 0.0 0.0 −5.5 −0.7
of which: Debit cards 50.3 0.5 0.4 3.3 3.6
New Payments Platform transactions 167.1 0.6 0.5 14.9 11.2
Cheque payments 0.7 −3.3 0.7 −31.3 −23.4

Source: RBA

Total Average Merchant Fees for Debit, Credit and Charge Cards
March quarter 2025
  Domestic cards -
device present
(Per cent)		 Domestic cards -
device not present
(Per cent)		 International cards
(Per cent)		 Total
(Per cent)
Debit
eftpos 0.41 - - 0.42
Mastercard 0.54 0.55 - 0.59
Visa 0.51 0.45 - 0.57
Credit
American Express 1.31 1.31 1.63 1.32
Mastercard 0.86 0.88 2.71 0.99
Visa 0.87 0.80 2.85 0.99
Source: RBA

All levels and growth rates are seasonally adjusted, except for those relating to cards on issue. The data are not adjusted for the effects of breaks in the series. Historical levels and growth rates for the retail payments statistics may be revised due to the resubmission of data by some reporting institutions and the re-estimation of seasonal factors.

For further information about the Retail Payments Statistics collection, including links to relevant statistical tables, refer to Payments Data.