Update on availability and enablement of least-cost routing for merchants Data as at December 2024 (published March 2025)

To provide greater transparency on the extent to which providers are supporting least-cost routing (LCR), the Bank publishes the tables below on LCR availability and take-up (enablement) across the major acquirers for ‘card-present’ (or in-person transactions) (Table 1) and ‘card-not-present’ (or online transactions) (Table 2). For the avoidance of doubt, those institutions with the highest rates of LCR enablement do not necessarily provide merchants with the lowest overall payment costs.

Card-present LCR

Table 1: Least-cost Routing of Card-present Debit Card Transactions
Per cent of merchants, December 2024(a)
  Available to merchants Enabled
for merchants		 Not enabled for merchants – active merchant choice(b) Not enabled for merchants – active acquirer choice on behalf of merchant(b)
Square 100 100 – –
Stripe 100 98 1 –
Tyro 100 86 – –
Suncorp Bank 100 75 18 7
Westpac 100 66 – 22
Fiserv 100 62 – –
National Australia Bank 100 61 – –
ANZ Worldline 99 51 15 1
Commonwealth Bank 98 51 – 13
Adyen 100 26 – –
Total 99 76 1 5

(a) Figures have been rounded to whole percentage points. Consequently, a value of 100 may still mean LCR is not available/enabled for every merchant of that institution. Figures exclude very large (strategic) merchants and merchants that supply their own payment terminals.
(b) An active choice to not enable LCR may be based on (i) price considerations (i.e. routing to the default scheme is already the lowest-cost option, or the cost savings from enabling LCR do not outweigh the implementation costs for the merchant) or (ii) non-price considerations (e.g. a gap in non-price capabilities between the domestic and international schemes).

Source: RBA

LCR for in-person transactions is now widely available to merchants and take-up by merchants has increased over 2024. As at the end of December 2024, over 75 per cent of merchants had LCR enabled for in-person transactions. The Bank expects providers to continue enabling LCR for in-person transactions for merchants that could benefit from it and pass the savings on to merchants.

Card-not-present LCR

Table 2: Least-cost Routing of Card-not-present Debit Card Transactions
Per cent of merchants, December 2024(a)
  Available
to merchants		 Availability dependent on further work by a gateway or third-party provider Enabled
for merchants
Fat Zebra 100   100
Adyen 100   26
Stripe 100   76
Tyro 98 2 98
Westpac 64 36  
Commonwealth Bank 54   10
National Australia Bank 16 59  
ANZ Worldline 2   2
Braintree 0    
SecurePay 0    
Suncorp Bank 0 100  
Fiserv(b) TBC TBC TBC
Total 91

(a) Figures have been rounded to whole percentage points. Consequently, a value of 100 may still mean LCR is not available/enabled for every merchant of that institution. A value of 0 may mean LCR is available/enabled for some, but only a very small proportion, of merchants of that institution. Figures exclude very large (strategic) merchants and data relating to merchants where the listed institution only provides gateway services.
(b) Fiserv has not consented to the RBA publishing these data. Previous Fiserv figures are available in archived updates.

Source: RBA

LCR for online transactions is now available for over 90 per cent of merchants, and take-up by merchants continued to increase throughout 2024. The Bank recently began collecting data on the share of merchants for whom LCR is not available because further work is required by gateways or other third-party providers. These data highlight the role of gateways and other third-party providers in making LCR available for online transactions. While progress has been made, some providers still have more work to do. The Bank expects providers, including payment gateways, to accelerate progress on making LCR widely available for online transactions and enabling LCR for merchants that could benefit from it.

Background on Least-cost Routing

See: Least-cost Routing of Debit Card Transactions for more information, including details on what the Bank is doing on LCR.

Archived updates

The Bank has started publishing updates on LCR availability and enablement data every 6 months.
Previous LCR updates are available.