ANZ and Woolworths launch loyalty partnership despite RBA fee cap debate

Woolworths Supermarkets replaces its long dead rewards card with an ANZ card. Macquarie Group quietly killed of the old one as well as the MYER card and the Jetstar Airways card too. Woolies hasn't had a credit card since. Instead of a whole new card, they are buddying up with the legacy ANZ Rewards card. "The new deal between Woolworths and ANZ enables the bank’s Rewards credit cardholders to convert their points into Everyday Rewards points. "Eligible ANZ customers with existing Everyday Rewards accounts will have “seamless points conversion” from credit card rewards into everyday rewards points, including savings on every day household spending at Woolworths." More in the PAYDAY NEWS from Rachel St Clair #payments

Online spending has grown by 8.1% compared to Q2 2024, that's according to the AIB Q2 retail spend report which shows a 4.1% increase in overall spending in Q2 2025. ⁣ ⁣ Some of the sectors which benefited include: - Electrical goods (+9.1%) - Hardware⁣⁣ (+6.9%) - Jewellery (+7.6%) ⁣ Consumers in Q2⁣⁣ had more transactions in seven out⁣⁣ of the eight tracked categories which⁣⁣ makes up the retail spend analysis. ⁣ ⁣ In Q1 2025, the CSO reported a 5.6% increase in earnings compared to Q1 2024. According to the report, this rise in wages is likely the main factor behind the increased spending observed in Q2. ⁣ To find out more visit ⁣https://lnkd.in/e5ZkxZwz #poweredbyaibms #onelessthingtoworryabout First Merchant Processing (Ireland) DAC, trading as AIB Merchant Services, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

A coffee shop is holding more “deposits” than many banks. Read that again. Starbucks is sitting on roughly $1.85B of customer cash loaded on cards and its app. On the balance sheet it shows up as a stored value card and loyalty liability. In recent quarters that line has hovered around $1.8–$1.9B. That is bigger than the total deposits at a lot of community institutions. Here is the twist: that money is not FDIC/NCUA insured. It is essentially an interest-free float until you buy a latte, and some of it never gets redeemed at all, which Starbucks books as “breakage” revenue each year. So the question is not “should a coffee company be a bank”? I am not arguing that. The question is: what does it say about consumer behavior when a brand gets primary, habitual cash flows that look and feel like deposits, without being a depository? If you run a bank or credit union, sit with this for a minute: -Customers will park real dollars where the daily habit is -Trust and convenience can beat rate by a mile -Whoever owns the first swipe and the refill tends to own the relationship Food for thought as we plan the deposit strategy for next year. If a loyalty wallet can pull in a billion plus, what keeps your primary relationship from drifting to the next great habit loop? Other non-bank companies with massive "deposits" -Amazon @ $2.8B -Walmart @ $1.9B Arun Kumar Manickam BankNBFC.com Sarthak Nagia

Great white paper from Lloyds Banking Group on the state of hospitality payments. Thanks, Heather Sadler, for sharing - hopefully reposting helps with the reach. A few stats that stand out for me: 77% of UK hospitality businesses say contactless is the most requested payment method. 60% cite speed as their top reason to upgrade payment systems, while 42% say slow processing is their biggest pain point. 56% of hospitality operators plan to expand into multi-venue formats like food halls or shared spaces, making scalable payment systems critical. 44% report customer demand for mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. The message is clear: in-person payments are evolving fast. Guests want speed, choice, and simplicity - and operators need reliable systems that can keep up.

Not just sharing leads, sharing insights. That’s what true partnership looks like. Last night, I shared the latest Lloyds Banking Group hospitality report “From Till to Table” with all our partners. It’s packed with insights into what customers expect at checkout and what the hospitality industry expects from payment providers like Lloyds Cardnet. This is how partnerships should work: ✅ Sharing knowledge ✅ Attending events like Payments Disrupted together ✅ Growing together It’s not just about referrals, it’s about being informed, aligned, and proactive. If you're wondering what to expect from a partnership with Lloyds Cardnet, this is it. #Hospitality #Payments #Partnerships #Cardnet #CustomerExperience #PaymentsDisrupted #LloydsBankingGroup Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/e7NArwfi Natalie Tirant Justin Schuil-Brewer Ryan McEwen Paul Sherlock Shruti Veeranki

In Italy, there are several specific payment habits and solutions that are less known or less commonly used in the Netherlands. 1) Prepaid cards from Poste Italiane (PostePay) This is a prepaid card issued by Poste Italiane (the Italian postal service). It is extremely popular among young people and those who do not have a credit card. This prepaid card can be used both online and offline, often as an alternative to a bank account. In the Netherlands, prepaid cards do exist (such as Paysafe), but there is no national prepaid card like in Italy. 2) Contrassegno (cash on delivery) In Italy, you can order something online and pay cash or with a bank card directly to the courier upon delivery. In the Netherlands, almost all webshops require prepayment or use iDEAL for post-payment, but paying the courier is essentially not common. 3) MyBank MyBank is a pan-European direct bank transfer system used mainly in Italy, integrated into e-commerce checkouts. It is similar to an iDEAL payment as we know it in the Netherlands, but iDEAL is purely Dutch. MyBank is Italian/EU-wide. The Netherlands never adopted it because we already have iDEAL. 4) Lottomatica network / Tabacchi At many tobacco shops or Lottomatica points in Italy, you can make payments (pay bills or government services). This is unique because it’s a hybrid system between physical and digital. Paying in a tobacco shop in the Netherlands is impossible or at least highly unusual. 5) Prepaid “ricarica” / mobile top-up cards In supermarkets and tobacco shops in Italy, you can buy prepaid “ricariche” for mobile phone credit or online accounts. This is part of the Italian retail and payment landscape. In the Netherlands, this also exists but is much less integrated with online shopping. #Italy #Paymentmethods #PSP #Prepaid #Creditcard #Postepay

We have receipts. Buying illegal tobacco with a card is very easy and completely out in the open. There are obvious problems showing a breakdown in the onboarding process as well as monitoring of merchants. 1) GST is being collected on an illegal product 2) Merchant onboarding is not catching obvious problems 3) Surcharges are being applied and not disclosed 4) Stock control is being used through the PoS system 5) Incorrect details like phone numbers on receipts This is not limited to one PoS provider. We have encountered terminals from the Big4 Banks and others. One PoS provider even routed the debit transaction to eftpos using LCR. The full story in in PAYDAY News and the link will be in the comments. #payments

Payment Providers have a key role to play in keeping an eye out for crime and are demanded by law to do so. Cash is getting squeezed out of the system to choke crime. If criminals can easily use the digital payment network its rather like squeezing a balloon – it just pops up somewhere else. Brad Kelly highlights how illegal tobacco purchases being processed openly through mainstream payment systems, including terminals from major banks and PoS providers, raising serious questions about merchant onboarding, transaction monitoring, and compliance obligations under Australian law. In Australia, payment service providers can be held responsible under several laws and regulatory regimes when they facilitate illegal transactions, including those involving illicit tobacco: #AML and #CTF Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) requires reporting entities (including banks and payment processors) to identify and mitigate risks of money laundering and terrorism financing. Facilitating payments for illegal tobacco or any other crime may constitute a breach if due diligence and transaction monitoring fail to detect suspicious activity. Criminal Code Act 1995. Under sections related to aiding and abetting, knowingly facilitating the sale of illegal goods (like contraband tobacco) could expose payment providers to criminal liability. Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Australian Consumer Law) If surcharges are applied and not disclosed, this may breach consumer protection provisions around transparency and unfair practices.   Taxation Laws (e.g., GST Act). Collecting GST on illegal products, could trigger investigations by the ATO. It implies a failure in merchant classification and tax compliance. Customs Act 1901 Tobacco importation and sale are tightly regulated. Payment services facilitating transactions for non-duty-paid tobacco may be complicit in customs violations. Poor merchant onboarding, transaction monitoring failure, undisclosed surcharges, and routing manipulation (LCR) open to door to queries around aiding and abetting crime such as illegal alcohol, baccy, counterfeit goods, unregulated pharmaceuticals or supplements, unlicensed gambling and dark web transactions that are righty frowned upon. With all the AI available, little of this is acceptable. Ready to call the digital banking and payments specialists Moroku ?

In our latest article, we explore how digital wallets are poised to transform everyday errands from queuing for cash to seamless payments and doorstep deliveries. For shoppers, it means convenience and safety. For local vendors and riders, it means trust and efficiency. Read more 👇

💳 FNB South Africa has unveiled major enhancements to its eBucks Rewards Program, including eBucks PayDay, new grocery partner, Pick n Pay, and bigger travel savings. @PicknPay https://zurl.co/SEU8X #FintechNews #Fnb #eBucksRewards #PayDay