CANBERRA: Three major banking and business peak bodies have announced a merger in the wake of the controversy sparked by the scrapping of credit card transaction fees.

A spokesperson for the Banking Association (BA), Len Ding, (main picture) said the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to ban the fees was initially greeted with concern by the group’s members.

“But ultimately we acknowledged that we can just drop the point-of-sale surcharge and slap other fees on consumers and the use of their cards, so we’ll make a packet anyway – probably more than we were gouging out of customers already,” Mr Ding said. “And retailers can just jack up prices anyway.

“By the way, I also must applaud federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, for ensuring taxpayers foot the bill for credit card charges that might otherwise have been paid by the Australian Tax Office or even absorbed by my members – the banks! Heaven forbid!”

He said the controversy over the flow-on effects of the RBA decision had prompted other industry groups to float the idea of merging with the Banking Association.

“I have had approaches from at least two major peak bodies whose members have been involved in applying or facilitating credit card surcharges,” Mr Ding said. “They both see value in a merger with us to ensure a united front to manage these sorts of issues in the future.

“As a result the Banking Association will be merging with Sales Transaction Australia (STA) and the Retail Dealers’ Society (RDS).

“We are yet to consider any options for a new name for our merged entity, let alone decide on one. So in the interim we’ll be sticking with just the initials of our respective groups.

“We hope that our new united groups, BASTARDS, will better represent our interests to the public and governments.”

After some promoting Mr Ding added: “Oh yeah, and the interests of customers. I guess we need to think of them. At least now and then.”

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