Australia looks to scrap surcharges on most card payments
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's central bank on Tuesday proposed to scrap surcharges on most debit and credit card payments for consumers while lowering interchange fees paid by businesses, steps that would save the two groups around A$2.4 billion ($1.57 billion) a year. In a consultation paper on the proposals, the Reserve Bank of Australia said surcharges and fees were no longer in the public interest and invited feedback from interested parties by August 26. The RBA judged that surcharges on debit and credit cards, including Mastercard and Visa, no longer achieved the intended purpose of steering consumers to make more efficient payment choices.