Commonwealth Bank is cutting its Merchant Service Fee for in-store payments from 1.1 per cent to 0.99 per cent per transaction, effective 1 October 2026, for eligible customers on its Single Rate Per Transaction pricing. The bank says that puts it among the lowest merchant fee rates on the market.
The timing isn’t a coincidence: it lands the same day Australia’s card surcharge ban kicks in. Starting 1 October, businesses can no longer surcharge customers on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard payments, and American Express, JCB and UnionPay are removing surcharging too. That leaves businesses that currently pass on card costs to either absorb them or find another way to cover the expense.
Rebecca Warren, Commonwealth Bank’s Executive General Manager for Small Business Banking, called the fee cut a practical way to help merchants keep costs down. “Australian businesses have demonstrated enormous resilience through several years of changing economic conditions, and we want to keep backing them as they continue to grow,” she said. “The good news is, the vast majority of businesses do not surcharge, and are being very proactive in the way they manage their costs.”
She added that the lower fee should ease the shift for merchants still working through the move away from surcharging. “Reducing our Merchant Service Fee to 0.99 per cent will lower operational costs for all merchants on our Single Rate Per Transaction pricing and will help ease the transition for the small number of businesses still finalising the move away from surcharging,” she said. CommBank said it will reach out to merchant customers directly before the change takes effect, with details on any action they need to take based on their payment setup.
CommBank also flagged other ways it supports business customers with costs, including CommBank Yello for Business, a rewards program offering eligible customers discounts across its partner network.
Herald View: Cutting merchant fees on the same day surcharging disappears looks like good timing more than pure generosity. CommBank is absorbing some of the margin businesses used to recoup directly from customers, a trade off that only makes sense if it locks in enough Single Rate Per Transaction merchants to make up the difference elsewhere.