The fees charged by Visa and MasterCard to merchants have become very complex and have jumped 50% in four years. Bercy hopes that the question of a European framework will be discussed within the framework of the next mandate of the Commission.
Payment giants Visa and MasterCard would take advantage of their dominant position to increase their prices. In four years, the fees charged to merchants have soared by 50%, according to Les Echos. Bercy would like these commissions to be better supervised and for the European Commission to take up the subject, within the framework of the new mandate to come after the European elections in June, reports the economic daily.
To do this, given the growing complexity of the fees charged by these players, an in-depth study would be necessary. The European Directorate General for Competition has already noted an increase in commissions applied to debit card transactions, from 0.27% on average of amounts paid in 2018 to 0.44% in 2022.
Figures which, however, are only based on limited data, Visa and MasterCard not providing precise information on the evolution of their costs. They would thus only reflect a part of the increases practiced by the two American groups.
Lack of transparency
“Payment institutions, acquirers and merchants claim that the fee structures of card networks have become more complex and lack transparency,” specifies the European Commission study cited by Les Echos.
“We communicate these prices directly and transparently to our customers,” MasterCard retorts.
The card networks justify the increase in their fees in particular through innovations and new security measures, in the face of the arrival of new players on the market and to comply with evolving regulatory obligations.
To limit the surge in their prices, the Commission will need more in-depth data and to legally justify better supervision, even though it lacks arguments at this level, according to Les Echos.
In the meantime, merchants, and by extension consumers, risk continuing to suffer from fee increases decided by the two payment giants.
