The fees that banks charge retailers for processing
shoppers’ payments should be capped, Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee MEPs decided in a vote on Thursday. The cap would apply to
both cross-border and domestic payments.
Banks’ card payment fees cost EU retailers over €10
billion each year, according to the European Commission figures. These
fees are not transparent and they differ between EU member states, where
they are subject not to legislation but to decisions by national
competition authorities.
These service or “interchange” fees are charged by banks
belonging to card schemes such as Visa and MasterCard, which together
control the lion’s share of the market. Retailers are charged for every
card transaction and add the costs to the prices of goods or services
they offer.
Fees: capped and transparent
For credit card transactions, MEPs backed the European
Commission's proposal to cap the bank’s fee at 0.3% of the transaction
value.
For debit card transactions, the committee amended the
proposed cap to 7 euro cents, or 0.2% of the transaction value,
whichever is the lower.
These caps would apply to both cross-border and domestic
transactions in the EU and would take effect one year after the rules
enter into force.
Whose freedom to choose?
Today retailers are often obliged to accept all cards in
any given card scheme, even though it might be more profitable for them
to accept only those with lower fees.
Under the new rules, retailers would be free to choose
which cards to accept, unless they are subject to the same interchange
fee which, moreover, must comply with the cap set by these rules.
Whilst this would restrict the shopper’s freedom to
choose which payment card to use, lower fees should translate into in
lower prices.
Next steps
This committee vote consolidates Parliament's position.
The rules will be put to vote by a full house at one of the upcoming
parliamentary sessions.
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