The RBA was given regulatory powers on 28 November and has...

The RBA was given regulatory powers on 28 November and has requested public submissions in a consultative period before it makes its decision. AFIA (Australian Finance Industry Association) fired off it submission on December 6 seeking no change to the current arrangements, but it is fighting on 2 fronts: 1/ credit card surcharging - the RBA wants to outlaw it and 2/ BNPL merchant charges being contained within merchant pricing. The RBA wants the cost of BNPL added to prices to make the process transparent and bring down the price of goods

AFIA claims that if left alone, competition will lead to reduced prices for each. The RBA says that businesses and providers are surcharging too much, between $1.5 billion and $6 billion per year, nobody really knows.

In the case of BNPL, the RBA says that as the poorest and most vulnerable are also the heaviest users of BNPL services, then they are also shouldering the burden of the high cost of BNPL transactions, if they were added to merchant prices, they would result in lower prices, and customers would be much less willing to use BNPL because they would see and understand the additional cost attached to BNPL.

In both cases the RBA has likely already made up its mind, but there is a consultative process going on with no date set out yet for any changes.