Michael Ebstein

Michael Ebstein is a recognised authority in Australia’s credit-card and payments industry and serves as the Financial Reviewer for Point Hacks. He brings more than 35 years of experience in banking, credit-card strategy, and consumer payments. 

Michael is the founder of MWE Consulting and the author of the MWE Australian Payment Cards Report — a long-running industry publication subscribed to by nearly all major Australian banks, card issuers and card schemes. His analysis of reward programs, interchange regulation and credit-card trends is frequently cited by mainstream financial media and regulatory bodies such as the Reserve Bank of Australia. 
Michael began his career in payments in 1988 as General Manager – Marketing, ANZ Global Cards, where he led innovation across Australia’s card market. During his 11 years at ANZ he: 

Launched the first Australian credit card with complimentary international travel insurance. 
Developed co-branded cards with Telstra and Qantas, helping cardholders maximise their reward-points earning potential. 
Delivered the Qantas Telstra Visa Card (1996) — described by Visa as the most successful global per-capita card launch with which they had been involved. 

He also served on Visa’s Asia-Pacific Product Advisers Committee and represented that group on Visa’s International Product Advisers Committee, influencing global credit-card product strategy. 
Since establishing MWE Consulting in 1999, Michael has advised leading banks, fintechs and loyalty providers on credit-card product design, interchange economics and reward-program optimisation. He has also appeared as an expert witness in multiple credit-card legal cases. 
At Point Hacks, Michael reviews credit-card guides, rewards analyses and financial comparisons to ensure the information we publish is accurate, transparent and aligned with Australian financial-industry best practice.