Visa Postpones New Merchant Fees Until July

Visa has delayed the introduction of a new fee structure due to the coronavirus scare, according to a report.

The new fee structure, which had been in planning for some time, would raise some credit card transactions for a number of merchants and lower it for others. The new fees will now take effect in July instead of April.

“Visa is committed to partnering with our clients during this difficult time,” said a Visa spokesperson. “We are actively implementing and considering a number of ways we can proactively support our clients to ensure the stability, security, reliability and resiliency of the digital payments ecosystem.”

Cards offered by Visa and other companies set what are called interchange fees, which are collected by the banks that issue the cards. Those fees generally help banks to fund their rewards programs for the cards.

Earlier this month, Visa announced that it was teaming up with Paga, a Nigerian-based startup, to help bring new payments technology to Africa and beyond. Paga created a network that lets over 14 million Nigerian customers make payments, transfer money and buy things digitally, whether it’s through a mobile app or the company’s 24,840 agents.

“We are excited to partner with Visa, a leader in payments globally, as they are constantly building world-class solutions for consumers and businesses. Our goals are well-aligned. As we scale our wallet across emerging markets such as Nigeria, Mexico and Ethiopia, partnering with Visa to give both consumers and businesses, who have been underserved, access to Visa’s global network made sense to us,” the company said in a press release.

Although the tie-up doesn’t include an investment from Visa, it does line up with Visa’s plan to expand throughout the continent and support the best startups in the region.