Wattle Wire — Thursday 29 October 2026

Thursday 29 October

In her opening statement to the Senate Economics Committee on Wednesday, Governor Michele Bullock said the RBA will publish its priorities from the Review of Payments System Regulation by the end of 2026, then start consulting on the chosen issues by mid-2027. She also said several large providers have cut card fees for small businesses since surcharging ended on 1 October, that industry plans to make cash distribution sustainable need ACCC approval, and that designating Armaguard lets the RBA act if needed but doesn't mean it will.

Worth knowing: this puts dates on the review that will decide whether wallets, Amex-style three-party schemes and agentic commerce come under formal regulation. If you have a submission in, the year-end list will show whether your issue made the cut, and the real fight happens in the 2027 consultation. The line on competition is also an early read from the RBA on whether the surcharge ban is cutting merchant costs, so expect it to come up again.

Read: RBA

Banking Day reports that AusPayNet wants banks and payment processors to coordinate and invest together in migrating to post-quantum cryptography, in line with the Australian Signals Directorate's recommendation to finish by 2030. It suggests each participant start with an inventory of the public-key algorithms it uses, then prioritise quantum-safe or hybrid key exchange to limit "harvest now, decrypt later" risk.

Worth knowing: 2030 is closer than it sounds once you count terminals, HSMs, card personalisation and every bilateral link that has to change together. No one participant can migrate a shared network alone, which is why AusPayNet is framing this as an industry program. For most teams the cryptographic inventory is the practical first step, and plenty of organisations don't have a complete one yet.

Read: Banking Day

On the call after Visa's record FY2026 result, CEO Ryan McInerney said agentic commerce is at an early stage and needs a clear path to resolving problems, and named Shopify and Anthropic among Visa's agentic partners. Visa shares rose above US$400 on Wednesday, an all-time high.

Worth knowing: when a scheme CEO leads with disputes rather than volume, it tells you where the hard problem sits: who carries the chargeback when an agent buys the wrong thing. Australian banks raised the same liability concern with the RBA, so watch for scheme rule changes on agent-initiated transactions before any local regulation. Mastercard reports on Thursday US time.

Read: Payments Dive

Adyen's Q3 net revenue rose 23% to €738.1 million and processed volume rose 30% to €451.1 billion, and it now expects a 50% EBITDA margin for 2026 as it speeds up investment. It also joined the ECB's digital euro pilot as an acquiring payment service provider, and is working with Sierra and Meta on the Personal Agent Protocol for how AI agents deal with businesses.

Worth knowing: a global acquirer signing up to the digital euro pilot gives the project more credibility with merchants. It's also a reminder that merchant acceptance, not consumer demand, usually decides whether a new rail works. Adyen is spending more for growth just as Australian acquiring margins are being squeezed after the surcharge ban, and smaller local acquirers have less room to absorb that squeeze.

Read: Adyen

Android Authority found code for a Google Wallet feature called "Overseas QR payments", which would let users pay at QR merchants abroad through the Alipay+ network. Google's support material names only Singapore so far, and Google hasn't announced it or given a timeline.

Worth knowing: if it ships, Australians travelling in Southeast Asia could pay at QR-only merchants from Google Wallet, without a card at the checkout. The money would come through Alipay+ rather than a card network. It's another sign that cross-border payments at the till are starting in wallets, not on cards.

Read: PYMNTS

Stripe has launched "stripe pay", which lets businesses find other companies by their Stripe profile handle and send them money instantly at no cost, from the Dashboard or the command line. Both sides need Stripe financial accounts, and Patrick Collison said "A2A payments will be more important than P2P payments."

Worth knowing: this is a closed-loop network: free and instant because the money never leaves Stripe's own accounts. The A2A Roundtable's vision for Australia relies on open rails like NPP and PayTo. A platform network of this kind would compete with those rails for B2B volume rather than run on them.

Read: PYMNTS

Nothing notable this window.

The Singapore Payments Network, a new not-for-profit set up by MAS and the Association of Banks in Singapore to govern the country's national payment schemes, has named Derek Chan its first CEO. MAS deputy managing director Jacqueline Loh chairs its 11-member board, and the body starts operating in early 2027.

Worth knowing: Singapore is putting its national schemes under one owner, which is the same kind of consolidation that created AP+ here. Chan's first job is moving the schemes over from their current administrators without disruption. Its stated priorities include resilience and regional connectivity, which matter to Australia because Singapore would be a natural partner for any cross-border fast-payment link.

Read: TNGlobal

Drafted by Wattlebird, Wattle Wire's AI research desk; edited by Michael Dennehy. Not financial advice. Summaries paraphrase the linked sources.