RBA 'to carry on monitoring credit card fees'

Credit card and EFTPOS transactions will continue to be monitored by the Reserve Bank of Australia, it has been reported.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced it will continue to regulate fees incurred on credit cards.

Moves by the RBA will also see it carry on with monitoring EFTPOS transactions, after its Payments System Board called upon banks last year to develop a more effective online payments process system.

Australian banking moves by the board also saw it demand lenders take steps to ensure that interchange fees on credit card transactions do not increase.

In a statement, the RBA points out: "The board has now concluded that, although progress has been made in both of these areas, it is not yet sufficient to warrant a decision to step back from interchange regulation."

However, in acknowledgment of the moves that banks have currently made, the board has opted to not force them to lower average interchange fees by 0.5 per cent for each transaction.

The news comes as Christopher Zinn, of consumer group Choice, claimed last month that being charged $35 for a late credit card repayment is unfair and such charges should be scrapped.

Written by Emma North