Commission accepts Visa and Mastercard commitments

Commission accepts Visa and Mastercard commitments

The European Commission has accepted commitments from Visa and Mastercard relating to inter-regional interchange fees for debit and credit payment card transactions.

Inter-regional interchange fees are charged on payments made with cards issued outside the EEA for purchases in the EEA.

The Commission has taken previous decisions against Visa and Mastercard relating to multi-lateral interchange fees for cards issued in the EEA.

This was a complex case as the payments regulatory framework has developed since the investigation began.  Further, the Interchange Fee Regulation (Regulation 2015/751) does not apply to cards issued outside the EEA.

Visa and Mastercard have agreed to cap the level of inter-regional interchange fees at 0.2% of the transaction value for debit cards and 0.3% of the transaction value for credit cards for card payments carried out by the cardholder in a shop.  The caps are 1.15% and 1.5% respectively for online debit and credit card transactions.

The measures are expected to cut the inter-regional interchange fees by on average 40%.

Commission press release IP/19/2311

Cases AT 39398 (Visa MIF) and AT 40049 (Mastercard II)