Impact of the Interchange Fees Regulation

Antitrust: Commission publishes report


The European Commission has published a report on the impact of the Interchange Fees Regulation (“IFR”) for card-based payment transactions. In line with the requirements on the IFR itself, it has been sent to the European Parliament and the Council. The report concludes that the main objectives of the Regulation have been achieved, as interchange fees for consumer cards have decreased, leading to reduced merchants' charges for card payments, and ultimately resulting in improved services to consumers and lower consumer prices.Furthermore, market integration has improved through the increased use by merchants of acquirers (banks servicing merchants) located in other Member States (cross-border acquiring services) and more cross-border card transactions.

The entire report of the European Commission can be found here.