European Union Wants to Cap Credit, Debit Card Fees

The EC today issued a proposal that would cap the interbank fees that the card companies charge at 0.2% for credit transactions and 0.3% for debit card transactions. Card issuers, including Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA), stand to lose about $8 billion annually if the proposal is approved. American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP), which uses a different fee system, would escape the brunt of the change.

The EC originally wanted to eliminate the fees entirely, claiming that the so-called swipe fees are anticompetitive. The EC’s vice-president for competition, Joaquin Almunia, said:

The interchange fees paid by retailers end up on consumers’ bills. Not only are consumers generally unaware of this, they are even encouraged through reward systems to use the cards that provide their banks with the highest revenues. Complementing the enforcement of antitrust rules, the regulation capping interchange fees will prevent excessive levels of these fees across the board. A level playing field will be created for payment services providers, new players will be able to enter the market and offer innovative services, retailers will make big savings by paying lower fees to their banks, and consumers will benefit through lower retail prices.

In the press release announcing the proposed change, the EC said that European Union’s payment market is “fragmented and expensive with a cost of more than 1% of EU GDP or €130 billion a year.”