Visa Europe will cap so-called interbank fees for processing credit card payments to 0.3% of the value of the transaction for cross-border and domestic payments in Europe for four years, starting with January 2015. The commitment will reduce card charges by 40% to 60%.
The move ends an antitrust probe that was triggered by retailers’ gripes about the card payments company relating to the volume of transactions. Card fees charged by Visa Europe and MasterCard have been probed by European Union regulators since 2002.
As per the regulation, a 0.3% cap on credit card fees for payments that customers make in their home nation will be applied after a two-year delay to deter banks switching to cards with higher charges.
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