Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges, who campaigned for an end to the policy, said he was hopeful this was a win for small and medium businesses.
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The Auckland Business Chamber is cautiously optimistic that government promises to ban paywave and credit surcharges from card payments appear to have stalled.
In July last year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson moved to scrap the fees, declaring: “That pesky note or sticker on the payment machine will become a thing of the past.”
The ban was set to kick into effect no later than May 2026, and the move was heavily opposed by businesses.
Now, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was taking “a breather” on the policy.
“[It’s] still under consideration. We just want to make sure we understand all of the implications before we push the final button on it,” Luxon said.
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges, who campaigned for an end to the policy, told Morning Report he was hopeful this was a win for small and medium businesses.
“We’ve been stuck between the big banks and the payments providers, the visas and mastercards and consumers, and I suppose politics. I can tell you 29 chambers all over the country reacted viscerally to this, the submissions almost to a single one opposed this strongly,” he said.
“I’ve made and I know Retail NZ has made clear to any minister who will listen our opposition to this. So, look, we don’t know for sure but we’re hopeful this is a win.”
Bridges said the problem with the bill as it stood was a very serious unintended consequences from a blanket ban.
“It’s a slogan in a sense more than it is a policy. In Australia, I understand they walked away from a very similar policy after the unintended consequences and so were there,” he said.
“I hope Scott Simpson and his colleagues will go back and either ditch this or find something more nuanced for the issues that are there.”
The move to axe surcharges followed growing public frustration at the cost and transparency of the charges; the Commerce Commission estimated New Zealanders were paying up to $150 million in surcharges each year, including $45 to $65 million in what it considered excessive charges.
Businesses pushed back, Retail New Zealand arguing every one or two and a half percent made a difference in a tough economy.
The Retail Payment System (Ban on Merchant Surcharges) Amendment Bill is now languishing on the order paper, ready for be read a second time.
“It’s going nowhere,” New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told reporters on Thursday afternoon, after Luxon’s comments.
Asked if there was any disagreement between the coalition parties, Luxon said no.
“We want to take a breather and have a think and make sure that we fully understand the implications of that on all businesses,” he said.
ACT leader David Seymour said businesses could not afford it.
“The government said it would do it. We’ve listened to the very strong feedback. I’ve listened to small business people saying we get a million bucks through our card system, a 2 percent fee we have to eat would be $20,000, our small business can’t afford that, and that’s why the conversations carry on,” Seymour said.
“We are listening as a government to small business and we’ll get to a better place.”
Seymour said the surcharge ban bill had been through Select Committee, where his colleague Parmjeet Parmar suggested businesses should be able to keep surcharges if they offered a free alternative, like EFTPOS.
“Maybe that’s where we end up, who knows.”
Asked whether the ban would be in place by May as promised, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said he was “hopeful”.
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