The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) card surcharge reforms are planned to take effect from Oct. 1, and Australian banks are working with businesses to prepare for these changes, Australian Banking Association Chief Executive Simon Birmingham said, according to a Monday statement.

Under the reforms, businesses will no longer be allowed to add a surcharge when customers pay with eftpos, Visa, or Mastercard, and businesses will have increased transparency to better understand and compare payment costs.

The RBA estimated that only one in every six businesses chooses to apply a card surcharge, Birmingham said.

The RBA also cut the cap on domestic interchange fees for banks to 0.3% from 0.8% for personal credit cards. The new interchange caps for foreign-issued cards will apply from April 1, 2027.