Becoming a card issuer in Australia requires overcoming numerous regulatory hurdles. ARPA and ACCC are two government bodies you need to be familiar with.

I was involved in setting up a new insurance company in the late 1980s and even then you needed well connected investors as well as a top law firm to smooth the way. Credit legislation has become even more onerous since then.

Perhaps a feasible path would be to co-brand your card with Visa or MasterCard. That is how the major department stores are implementing their store cards. Both David Jones and Myer have stopped issuing their own store cards for the reasons mentioned above.