Unravelling the Plastic Money Maze

Ross Gittins writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about what happens behind the scenes in Australia when a plastic card payment is made.

This web of subterranean payments matters a great deal to the banks, which means they put a lot of marketing effort into manipulating our choices, pushing us in directions that maximise their profits.

This is stuff you and I aren't meant to know about. And it's so complicated many people would prefer not to know. But if you like to know how the big boys are trying to manipulate you - and how the Reserve Bank is fighting back - keep reading.