Lucrative fees to process card transactions are to be capped under a proposal by the EU’s executive arm aiming to draw a line under a decade-long battle with payment groups such as Visa Europe and MasterCard.
Under a draft European Commission plan, seen by the Financial Times, a ceiling would be introduced for charges on all consumer debit and credit card transactions, scaling back a large revenue stream for banks.
The measure stops short of a full ban on debit card fees, a more far-reaching intervention envisaged in earlier drafts. Even so, the assault on fees would be a setback for the payments industry, which has warned it would raise banking fees for consumers rather than cut retail prices.