Australia’s card payment reforms redistribute costs between consumers, merchants and banks. Lower interchange caps reduce issuer revenue, while Commonwealth Bank’s expanded Yello programme extends rewards across mortgages, savings and insurance as well as cards. Elsewhere, Apple Pay entered India through Axis Bank, while Maybank and CIMB introduced Islamic credit cards with fixed 14% profit rates. Wise expanded access to local QR payment networks for travellers. Read more on the week’s key developments: 1. Australia ends card surcharges as lower interchange caps take effect Australia’s card payment reforms took effect on 1 October 2026. The eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks introduced no-surcharge rules for debit, prepaid and credit cards, with American Express and UnionPay following from the same date and PayPal from 5 October. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also cut the interchange cap on domestic consumer credit cards from 0.8% to 0.3% of transaction value. The RBA estimated that consumers had paid AUD 1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) a year in surcharges. The reforms redistribute rather than eliminate card costs. The RBA expected issuers to lose AUD 660 million ($457.4 million) of interchange revenue a year, mostly on consumer credit cards, and issuers indicated they could respond by cutting rewards, shortening interest-free periods or raising interest rates or fees. Merchants benefit from lower interchange only to the extent that acquirers pass the reduction through. Acquirers processing more than AUD 10 billion ($6.9 billion) a year must publish pass-through measures by 30 January 2027. 2. Commonwealth Bank expands Yello rewards across retail banking relationships Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) turned CommBank Yello into a points programme from 1 October 2026, allowing eligible customers to earn one points currency across home loans, savings, credit and debit cards and insurance. Its card-based CommBank Awards programme closed on 29 September, with eligible balances converted one for one into Yello points. Points could be redeemed for cash, shopping and travel or transferred to partner programmes including Everyday Rewards, Velocity and Qantas Frequent Flyer. The change shifts rewards from card spending towards the wider banking relationship. CBA said it came as the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interchange and surcharging reforms, effective the same day, reshaped the economics of card rewards. Rewarding mortgages and savings gives customers an incentive to hold several products with CBA. 3. Apple Pay enters India through Axis Bank Apple Pay launched in India on 30 September 2026, initially supporting Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Eligible customers can add their cards through Apple Wallet or Axis Bank’s mobile banking app and use them for contactless purchases, in-app payments and online checkout. The launch does not include Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration. The launch connects Axis’s eligible credit cards to Apple’s wallet and merchant checkout network. Apple has worked with payment providers including Razorpay, Paytm and Pine Labs to support acceptance, while tokenisation keeps actual card numbers from being shared with merchants. This adds a distribution and security layer to existing card payments. With initial support limited to Axis-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards, its immediate reach is narrower than India’s UPI ecosystem. 4. GCash parent Mynt prices IPO and opens subscriptions through its app The Philippines’ GCash parent Mynt announced on 2 October 2026 that it had priced its initial public offering (IPO) at PHP 6.60 ($0.11) per share, below the PHP 10 ($0.16) maximum indicated in its offer terms. The base offer of approximately 8.0 billion shares was worth about PHP 53.0 billion ($844.5 million), rising to PHP 60.9 billion ($970.4 million) if the overallotment option is exercised in full. From 6 October, registered GStocks Philippines (GStocks PH) users could subscribe through GCash from 100 shares, or PHP 660 ($10.5), without coordinating with a separate broker. The in-app offer adds a retail distribution channel. A low minimum and in-app subscription reduce barriers to primary-market participation. Most of the offer, however, represents existing holdings changing hands, as 6.4 billion base shares are secondary shares and 1.6 billion are new. 5. Maybank and CIMB introduce Islamic credit cards with fixed 14% profit rates Maybank Islamic opened applications nationwide for its Nadi Mastercard Credit Card-i on 7 October 2026, while CIMB Islamic launched its Lite-i Credit Card. Both offer a fixed annual profit rate of 14%, no annual fee and non-compounding profit charges. First announced in July, the cards also apply the 14% rate to cash advances. CIMB offers a promotional six-month 0% instalment plan for eligible purchases. The single rate removes the pricing tiers that can take annual profit charges to 18%, making lower-cost revolving credit available without customers first qualifying for a better repayment tier. The 14% rate also lowers borrowing costs on cash advances, although transaction fees still apply. Non-compounding profit is already a feature of CIMB’s other Islamic cards, so Lite-i’s distinction lies chiefly in its lower rate and absence of an annual fee. The benefit is greatest for customers carrying balances; those paying in full gain principally from the fee structure and other product terms. 6. Wise adds cross-border QR payments and eSIMs for travellers Wise launched Scan to Pay and customisable eSIM data plans on 6 October 2026, with customers in Singapore and Malaysia among the first to receive both. Eligible travellers can scan Alipay+ QR codes at supported merchants across a network covering more than 50 destinations, including mainland China without a Chinese bank card, alongside local schemes such as PayNow, DuitNow and QR Ph. Customisable eSIM plans covered customers in nine markets. Wise reported 18.9 million active customers in the year to March 2026 but did not disclose adoption of the new features. The QR feature extends Wise to merchants where cards may be less widely accepted. Wise customers spent $43.6 billion on its cards in that year, up 37%, giving it a payments base to build on. The service also gives travellers another route into domestic QR schemes used by local banks and wallets. 7. Brazil removes BRL 500 ceiling on contactless Pix payments Brazil’s central bank removed the fixed BRL 500 ($96.4) per-transaction ceiling on contactless Pix payments from 1 October 2026, under Normative Instruction 746 issued on 16 June. Customers could ask their financial institution to raise or lower their limits. The change also covered Open Finance payments made without redirection to the bank’s app. Contactless Pix, available since February 2025, recorded 2 million transactions in August 2026, up from 1.1 million in January. Pix accounted for 54.7% of Brazil’s payment transactions in the second half of 2025, against 30.4% for credit, debit and prepaid cards combined. Contactless Pix accounted for only 2 million of the 8.1 billion Pix transactions in August. The old ceiling was also well above the average credit-card payment of BRL 138 ($26.6), so its removal mainly expands the scope for higher-value purchases. 8. Nubank rules out a transaction with Monzo Nu Holdings, the parent of Nubank, said in a securities filing on 30 September 2026 that it was not pursuing a transaction with Monzo, following reports of preliminary acquisition talks. The company reiterated its priorities of deepening its position in Brazil, scaling its businesses in Mexico and Colombia, and building its presence in the United States and internationally through Nu Global. Nu’s decision comes shortly after its 10 September launch of US operations and Nu Global, a multi-currency account supporting money movement across more than 35 countries. Those initiatives provide an existing route to international expansion, while acquiring Monzo would have added an established UK banking franchise. 9. Bank Mandiri opens nine in 10 new accounts through Livin’ Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri said on 1 October 2026 that Livin’ by Mandiri had reached 42.1 million registered users in August, up from 37.2 million at end-2025. Nine in 10 new customers opened accounts directly through the app, while Livin’ users accounted for 89% of the bank’s total savings balances. Mandiri has also expanded Livin’ beyond payments into financing products. The stronger indicator is acquisition rather than registrations, because the app now starts most new customer relationships. The 89% figure shows that Livin’ users hold most of Mandiri’s savings balances, not that the app gathered those balances. Livin’s 42.1 million registered users in August compare with Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s reported 49.7 million BRImo users in June, although neither figure alone establishes active usage. Active-user rates, product sales and balances per digital customer will better show whether Livin’ is converting digital acquisition into deeper retail relationships. 10. Venmo links credit card rewards to bill splitting PayPal’s Venmo said on 5 October 2026 that customers opening a Venmo Credit Card from 15 October would earn 3% cashback on dining and entertainment, plus another 1% when they split the purchase with another Venmo user and are repaid within 30 days. Purchases paid with Venmo would also earn 3% and all others 1%. The Synchrony-issued Visa card has no annual fee. Venmo said more than 100 million Americans use its wider platform. The extra reward ties card spending to Venmo’s peer-to-peer network because earning it requires a second interaction after the purchase rather than higher spending. It also replaces a structure that paid 3% in a cardholder’s top spending category and 2% in the second, shifting rewards towards dining, entertainment and purchases paid through Venmo.
