Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs.
Below are snippets of all the media releases we received from Oct 12 till the end of the week.
This article updates throughout the week.
One In Four Australians Delay Bills
Perth, Oct 12: Nearly a quarter of Australians have missed or delayed a bill in the past year so they could pay their mortgage or rent, new research shows.
A Finder survey of 1,006 Australians, conducted in August 2026, found 23 per cent, or about 2.3 million households, had put housing costs ahead of other bills.
Energy bills were the most common to slip, with 8 per cent delaying an electricity or gas payment. Car insurance and credit card repayments were each delayed by 6 per cent, while home internet, buy now pay later (BNPL) and home insurance payments were each held off by 5 per cent.
Finder money expert Richard Whitten said: “It’s concerning that so many households are in a position where they have to decide which expenses need to wait.”
He urged people under pressure to contact their providers and ask for an extension rather than miss payments without notice.
“Reducing a few regular household bills can create some much-needed breathing room and help stop one missed payment turning into a cycle of late fees, interest or mounting debt,” he said.
WEX and Mastercard Launch Unified Payments
Perth, Oct 12: Payments company WEX and Mastercard have partnered to launch what they say is Asia-Pacific’s first unified fleet payments network, bringing fuel, maintenance, tolling and parking costs into a single payment system.
The partnership aims to simplify fleet management for businesses that currently juggle separate payment systems for each type of vehicle cost. It will also let operators manage traditional fuel, hybrid and electric vehicles under one account with a single consolidated invoice.
Asia-Pacific is the world’s fastest-growing fleet management region. Fleet-card transaction volumes there were estimated at about US$310 billion (A$435 billion) in 2025, or 31 per cent of global volumes, and are projected to grow 14.3 per cent a year until 2030.
“For decades, fleets have used one card for fuel and a patchwork of systems for everything else, leaving fleet managers to stitch it all together,” said Matt Arthur, vice president and general manager, APAC Mobility at WEX.
Mastercard’s Executive Vice President, Commercial and New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Anouska Ladds, said: “Transportation is a critical growth engine. It sits at the center of how people and goods move, especially in a diverse region like Asia-Pacific.”
WEX processed more than US$237 billion in total volume across its global platform in 2025.
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