Shoppers can expect less generous reward schemes but fewer sky-high surcharges for paying by credit card under changes starting from September.

Airlines in particular are likely to be affected, as the new rules will limit businesses to charging customers a percentage of the purchase price, rather than a fixed fee, when they pay by credit card.

In other changes that will affect premium credit cards particularly, the Reserve Bank of Australia on Thursday said it would cap the fees banks received from credit card companies when transactions occurred.

Known as "interchange fees", these will be capped at 0.8 per cent of a purchase price from July next year. That compares with some interchange fees as high as 2 per cent today.