Volume: 5 Issue: 8
(August 2011)

Keywords:
eu interchange interchange fees european court of justice europe eurocommerce mastercard european commission rbs hsbc banco santander mbna bank of scotland lloyds royal bank of scotland british retail consortium uk government multilateral interchange fee mif european treaty tfeu cartels multilateral initial public offering ipo article 101 sepa single euro payment area european central bank ecb visa mastercard maestro v pay t

Authors:
cecile gregoire gregoire ruth milligan milligan

Organisations:
european central bank ecb eurocommerce european court of justice

Jurisdictions:
netherlands holland new zealand canada france belgium uk australia denmark

EU: Interchange fees: the facts, the stakes, the implications

The fight between merchants and card schemes over fees on card acceptance is not new. On the one hand, banks and card schemes claim that the fees they charge are essential to the viability of the system and, on the other, merchants in Europe and worldwide see these fees as profoundly unfair, disproportionate and anti-competitive. The latest round was fought out in the European Court of Justice, and is far from over. The outcome will have profound effects for the future of payments in Europe, as Cecile Gregoire and Ruth Milligan, of EuroCommerce, discuss.