The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Payments System Board published its November 2025 meeting update, flagging that it expects to release conclusions and an implementation timeline for any regulatory action arising from its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging by March 2026. The update also covered progress on financial market infrastructure crisis resolution powers and work on strengthening the security of card payments through a transition to Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). On card payments, members weighed stakeholder feedback on options for payment card surcharging, the extent of potential reductions in interchange caps, and whether commercial credit cards should face higher interchange caps than consumer credit cards. The Board noted concerns that some interchange reductions may not be passed through to merchants in the short term without further regulatory intervention, and discussed options to promote competition and transparency in the acquiring market. Beyond the review, members welcomed amendments to the Payment Systems (Regulation) Act 1998 and pointed to a mid-2026 consultation on the Board’s broader regulatory priorities, including issues related to mobile wallets, three party schemes, buy-now-pay-later providers and e-commerce platforms. Oversight and resilience topics included the 2025 assessment of the New Payments Platform, progress against recommendations from the March 2024 assessment of the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System with focus on change management and cyber resilience, and an annual compliance review that found a high level of compliance with interchange and surcharging standards and access regimes in 2024/25. Cross-border work referenced implementation of the G20 Roadmap, industry transition to richer ISO 20022 messaging and harmonised requirements in the High Value Clearing System and the NPP by end-2027, growing use of the NPP’s International Payments Service, and the RBA’s participation in phase two of the Bank for International Settlements Project Mandala. Next steps include publication of draft guidance on the RBA’s crisis resolution powers in December 2025, the Board’s card-cost review conclusions by March 2026, a full RITS assessment in June 2026, and consultation on using the RBA’s standard-setting powers under the PSRA to support AES migration, with industry expected to progress readiness for AES use by December 2030. The RBA also plans to examine options for enhancing wholesale cross-border payments in 2026, including through RITS upgrades and further research on digital money innovations.

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