Mastercard and Visa to lower interchange fees for payments in Europe

The European Commission has announced that Mastercard and Visa have made binding commitments to reduce interchange fees charged for payments in Europe to customers with consumer debit and credit cards issued outside the EEA, by on average 40%.  The expected reduction in costs for EEA retailers is projected to lead to consequent lower prices for consumers in the EEA.

The commitments were made to address competition concerns expressed by the Commission in Statements of Objections addressed to Mastercard in 2015 and Visa in 2017.

The commitments will apply for five and a half years.