Qantas Airways' (ASX:QAN) loyalty business could be impacted by the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to remove credit and debit card surcharges, cut interchange fees, and increase fee transparency, the Australian Financial Review reported Tuesday, citing Citi analyst Samuel Seow.

Seow said that payment providers funded merchant incentives with frequent flyer points drawn from interchange fees, but now merchants could be forced to raise prices and leave Qantas to manage the downstream effects of lower cost recovery.

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