The Payments System Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today released, for public discussion, a study on an important aspect of the Australian payments system - the networks for ATMs, credit cards and debit cards. The study deals with interchange fees and the conditions of entry to these networks.
Financial institutions agree and pay interchange fees to one another when their customers make credit and debit card transactions or use another institution’s ATMs. Interchange fees are “wholesale” fees which are not seen by consumers, but which have important effects on the fees and other incentives which consumers face when choosing how they make payments.
The study also considered the conditions of entry into the business of providing ATM, credit and debit card services, in particular the rules governing membership of the credit card schemes.
Copies of the study are available at the Reserve Bank of Australia and on its website and from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.