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For those paying attention, it’s clear that the wider Australian payments landscape is approaching another turning point in its long history. From pennies and pounds to dollars and cents, then paper and notes to bank cards and tap-to-pay, the way we spend has changed, and changed, and changed.
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Disclaimer: This content has been prepared as part of a partnership with Klevo Rewards Ltd and is intended for informational purposes only.
Among the most recent changes, the “points game” has ruled supreme for Aussies eager to stretch their dollars and their cents a little bit further, and for “free” rewards. The pursuit of frequent flyer miles, lounge access, and sign-up bonuses has unquestionably been the primary driver of credit card adoption.
But a looming regulatory hammer from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is set to dismantle the foundations of these loyalty programs.
As traditional rewards come under structural pressure, the next era in payment infrastructure is starting to emerge. At the forefront is Klevo Rewards (ASX:KLV), a company positioned to benefit from a fundamental shift away from traditional card-linked points to card-linked crypto rewards.
Goodbye to the surcharge
In October, the Oz payments market will face a mandatory overhaul. The RBA announced its intention to ban debit and credit card surcharging, effectively ending the practice of merchants passing on transaction costs to the consumer.
While the ban is most definitely a win for consumer transparency — and one that most have been calling for for years — there’s a big shift under the surface. The RBA is simultaneously targeting interchange fees; those paid by a merchant’s bank to a cardholder’s bank. These fees will be slashed from ~0.8% to just 0.3%.
For the uninitiated, this 50-basis-point reduction may well seem academic. For the card-linked rewards industry, it is an existential threat to the status quo.
Death of the ‘free’ lunch
Credit card rewards cannot exist in a vacuum. They’re a strong positive for anyone using credit cards to earn “freebies,” but they’re still funded by interchange fees, which are collected every time a card is swiped. When an issuer collects 0.8% on a transaction, they have a pool of capital to fund lounge memberships, cheaper travel insurance, and all those “free” business class upgrades.
By capping these at at 0.3%, the RBA is putting an end to the party. Very quickly, we can likely expect to see the “one point per dollar” standard disappear; the 100,000-point sweeteners used to lure new customers fall away; premium perks like airport lounge access stripped back or hidden behind higher annual fees.
Why? Well, it simply becomes unaffordable for the traditional issuers to share all these freebies with their loyalists. They’ll have to stop the bleeding.
Expectations are that this wouldn’t be a temporary dip either, but another one of those sweeping structural transitions we regularly see in Australia. The payments system is moving from rewards-driven credit models toward lower-cost, efficiency-led systems where loyalty’s no longer the value prop.
The infrastructure play
As the margins on traditional credit products evaporate, the industry is pivoting toward “infrastructure-led” payments. In this new paradigm, the best value lies in how payments are moved, not the reward attached to them.
Modern payments are becoming increasingly focused on three pillars: Embedded technology, real-time accessibility, and global interoperability. Consumers want everything integrated directly into software and platforms; they want things settled instantly rather than over days — like the “OSKO” transfers banks offer these days — and they want to be able to do it all across borders and time zones.
This shift creates a massive opening for alternative settlement models. Stablecoin-based settlement rails, card-linked digital asset infrastructure, and programmable payment systems go from “niche” concepts to the modern-day logical successors to a legacy system that can no longer afford its own incentives.
Klevo: The early-listed exposure
While traditional banks scramble to justify their rewards programs, Klevo is already operating in the space where payments and digital infrastructure come together.
Klevo sells itself as the perfect entry point in this wider transition, especially because it’s ASX-listed and has already established a significant footprint in the payments landscape. Through its Fly Wallet, Klevo services some 200,000 Australian cardholders — a ready-made ecosystem for digital-first financial products.
Klevo’s integration into the global crypto-card infrastructure — specifically its participation in the Bybit ecosystem — “positions it to capture the growth in crypto-card adoption.”
Unlike traditional credit cards that rely on shrinking interchange fees, Klevo’s model leverages the sharing yields on digital assets within the cardholder ecosystem.
Key pillars of Klevo’s next-steps strategy include:
- Stablecoin: Klevo will launch its own AUD-backed stablecoins, which offer the potential replacement of traditional merchant-based fees with crypto yields.
- Card-based settlement: By bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional card rails, Klevo lets users spend digital value in the real world without the overhead of those legacy banking structures.
- Scalable user base: The ~200,000 users in the Fly Wallet ecosystem give critical mass to iterate on new models as CY26 reforms take hold.
The RBA’s surcharge move (and the interchange fees cap hidden under the surface) signals that those managing our financial futures believe the traditional rewards-heavy payment model in Australia is broken.
As the fabled “points” era fades, markets will reward those who wield the infrastructure for the next generation of Oz commerce. Klevo’s right there already, with speed, transparency, and digital interoperability rather than the high-cost incentives of the past — and the opportunity to get in right from the beginning.
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The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
