The Interchange Fee Regulation takes effect from 9 December 2015, capping the interchange fees paid between merchant and card users’ banks when a payment is made. The European Commission’s intention with the cap is to redistribute the revenue from card issuing banks to merchants and on to consumers.
The draft guidance consultation includes: who the IFR applies to; interchange fee caps and who may be exempt; the PSR approach to monitoring compliance with the IFR; the PSR’s powers and procedures under the IFR and penalties under the IFR.
Fee caps for the UK have been set by HM Treasury: in the UK there will be a cap of 0.3% for credit card transactions. For UK debit card transactions HM Treasury has chosen a weighted average of 0.2%, meaning the cap will be 0.2% of the average value of all UK debit card transactions from the previous year. Consultation on the guidance closes on 29 January 2016.
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