Future EU rules for card payments should be modelled on those for cross-border bank transfers, so as to make paying cheap, easy and safe, say MEPs in a resolution adopted on Tuesday. Common EU technical and security standards would make card payments easier to handle, and fees charged for handling them should reflect real costs. Enforcing cost transparency should ensure that fees converge towards the lowest EU level, they add.
Just as SEPA is designed to remove the gap between domestic and cross-border bank transfers, so the goal of integrating the card payment market should be to make cross-border payments as convenient as payments at national level, say MEPs. Current fees for handling card payments are often too high relative to the costs they need to cover, say MEPs. Nevertheless, these fees do not need to be capped, they add, as making costs transparent should help to make handling fees “converge to the common lowest level based on real costs”. The document specifies that “he dominant position of two non-European card payment service providers can lead to excessive and unjustified fees for both consumers and merchants, in which their respective banks (the so called issuing and acquiring banks) take advantage of this situation.”
A SEPA-like model is also needed for internet and mobile payments, say MEPs, but it should avoid regulating this market too heavily, so as not to hinder its natural growth or stifle innovation, the non-binding resolution adds. The resolution also notes the present fragmentation of the market and highlights that “only a few big players are able to get acceptance by merchants and to operate on a cross-border basis.”
It seems that after a long absence of consumers from the debate , the European Union is finally putting their interests back on the table. Read the full report and resolution here.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More