FIN.

PSR consults on merchant survey in card-acquiring review

Following publication of its terms of reference for its market review into the supply of card-acquiring services in January, the PSR published its consultation paper on the approach to the merchant survey on 22nd May 2019.

Through the survey, the PSR is looking to understand how small and medium-sized UK merchants who accept MasterCard or Visa branded cards buy and use card-acquiring services.

The PSR proposes to ask the following questions as part of the survey (which is set to be conducted by telephone interviews):-

  • Do merchants have credible alternatives to card-acquiring services for Mastercard and Visa?
  • How do merchants access information about card-acquiring services, how do they assess that information, and do they act on it?
  • How satisfied or dissatisfied are merchants with the quality of service they receive from their provider of card-acquiring services?
  • How does the supply of card acceptance products affect merchants’ choice of card-acquiring services provider?

The consultation paper sets out it’s thinking behind asking the above questions and also details how it plans on undertaking quality assurance on the survey.

The consultation will close for comments on 5pm on 13 June 2019.

Emma Radmore