Australia Country Report

Key Topics
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The card networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Data

Appendix I: Demographics and the economy

Demographic and economic indicators
Ownership of key consumer devices
Internet usage by population

Appendix II: Payments environment

Access points
Account penetration
Consumer payment trends
B2C e-commerce payment methods

Appendix III: Cards market

Total cards payment metrics
Contactless cards metrics
Credit card numbers
Total credit card data metrics
Credit cards profitability indicators
Debit cards numbers
Debit cards metrics
Prepaid/e-money cards metrics

Appendix IV: Mobile payments

Mobile proximity payment metrics
Mobile P2P payments

Appendix V: Profit pool

Profit pool

Appendix VI: The card networks

Networks' credit card market shares
Networks' credit card data numbers
Networks' credit card billed volume
Networks' number of credit card transactions
Networks' average credit card transaction value
Credit card interchange fees by network
Networks' debit card market shares
Networks' debit card numbers
Networks' debit card billed volume
Networks' number of debit card transactions
Networks' average debit card transaction value
Debit card interchange fees by network

Appendix VII: Key retail banks and issuers

Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers
Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings
Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers

Appendix VIII: Acquirers and processing

Merchant acquirer credit card market share
Credit card merchant service charges
Merchant acquirer debit card market share
Debit card merchant service charges
Credit card issuer, issuing processor relationships
Credit card acquirer, acquiring processor relationships
Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers
Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions

Appendix IX: Online acquiring

• Online merchant acquirer market share

Demographics and Economy:
Australia's proximity to and strong trade and investment ties with Asia have fuelled the economy. For example, Chinese visitors numbered 1.43 million in 2018, spending about $8 billion.

Payments Environment:
While card use in Australia has long been among the highest globally, alternative digital payment methods are gaining prominence. The country's instant payment scheme went live in 2018 and Open Banking is being rolled out.

Cards market:
There were about 74 million cards in issue in Australia at the end of 2019, of which 20 million were credit cards, 43 million were debit cards and the remaining 10 million were prepaid cards.

Mobile Payments:
Australians' attitude towards payments has been changing rapidly during the last decade. The use of cash as a mode of payment continues to decline as consumers increasingly shift to electronic payment methods, especially for smaller transactions; the country is slowly becoming a cashless society.

Profit Pool:
Australia's credit cards market is highly profitable, with high levels of spend per card, relatively high borrowing levels and a low default rate by international standards. According to VFR's profit pool model, profits have remained stable at around $2.2 billion per year.

Card Networks:
Australia has a competitive credit cards market, with four of the major international brands – Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners Club – having a presence. Most major banks in the market issue just one of Visa- or Mastercard-branded credit cards.

Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
The retail banking market in Australia is dominated by the 'Big Four': Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Westpac, Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and National Australia Bank (NAB). Combined, they control about 69 per cent of credit cards in issue. Prominent foreign banks include HSBC and Citibank.

Acquiring and Processing:
With an estimated combined share of 67% in credit cards acquired billed volume and 74% in credit card transactions in 2019, the merchant acquiring market in Australia is dominated by NAB, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Bank. However, this hegemony has slowly reduced over the years.

Online Acquiring:
Total consumer e-commerce spend in Australia is estimated to have been $45 billion in 2019, with about three-quarters of the population shopping online. E-commerce transactions are characterised by a trend for seeking bargains online.

Regulatory and Markets Information:
In a move to make Australia a cashless society, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), in association with financial institutions including ANZ Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, launched the New Payment Platform (NPP).

ABN Amro
ACCC
Adyen
Afterpay
Alipay
American Express
ANZ
Apple Pay
ASIC
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group
Australia Post
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Bambora
Bank of Queensland
Bankwest
Barclays
BBVA
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
BNPL
BodyBoss
BOQ
BPAY Group
Buy now pay later
CBA
CDR
Certegy
Cirrus
Citi Australia
Citibank
Citigroup
Coco & Eve
Coles
CommBank
Commonwealth Bank
Consumer data right
Covid-19
Cuscal
CyberSource
David Jones
Diners Club
EDS
Eftpos
Eftpos Payments Australia
EMVCo
ePAL
eWAY
Ezidebit
FirstData
Fiserv
Fitbit Pay
G+D
Garmin Pay
Global Payments
Google Pay
HSBC
HSBC
IBM
Illawarra Mutual Building Society
IMB
ING
Internationale Nederlanden Groep
Klarna
Kogan
Lonely Planet
Mastercard
MobileSecurity
NAB
National Australia Bank
New Payments Platform
NPP
Open Banking
Oxipay
PayPal
PayPal Credit Australia
Qantas
Queenslanders Credit Union
Rambus
RBA
Reserve Bank of Australia
Samsung Pay
Sand & Sky
SecureCo
Skiddoo
SkinnyMint
Société Générale
Square
St George Bank
Suncorp
Supernova
Tyro
UnionPay
VGW
Virgin Australia
Visa
Webjet
WeChat Pay
Westpac
Wirecard
Woolworths
Worldpay
zipMoney
zipPay