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EU: Swipe-fee caps to save businesses billions

By  |  March 2, 2014

Recently-accepted caps on swipe-fees are expected to save businesses billions of euros, according to reports.

As Visa Europe has offered to cap the interchange fees, which are charged by issuing banks to retailers every time a consumer uses his or her card, reports say the new caps are likely to save businesses €10bn, or more than $13.8 billion, every year.

Visa agreed to cap the fees at 0.3 percent for credit cards, the same cap used by MasterCard.

The caps followed an investigation into the matter by the European Commission.

A similar case in the US lead to a multi-billion dollar settlement between Visa and MasterCard and US retailers; dozens of stores opted out of that settlement, however, and are now beginning to pursue their own legal cases against the credit card giants over the interchange fees.

Full Content: The Times of Malta

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