Reserve Bank plans to drive down the fees on credit and debit card transactions will ultimately hurt Australian consumers while denying the country new technology that could make trips to supermarkets a thing of the past, one of the world’s biggest card companies has warned.

Just days after Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock rounded on commercial banks and credit card providers for their resistance to the bank’s plans, Visa said small and medium-sized businesses could pay the price for the RBA’s actions.

The Reserve wants to ban surcharges imposed by some merchants on customers who use cards to pay for goods and services in a move the bank believes will save shoppers $1.2 billion a year.

It also wants to lower the cap on interchange fees that businesses have to pay payment service pr

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