The agency allowed the companies Mastercard Europe SA (Belgium) and “Visa International Service Association” (USA) to reduce the size of domestic interbank commissions, which are determined in relation to the corresponding consumer payment account details and paid by the acquirer in favor of Ukraine.
The AMCU also reminded that the acquiring service allows consumers to make non-cash payments for goods. In this case, payment is made through terminals connected to the payment system, and banks that are members of the payment system have the status of an acquirer.
Acquiring banks pay to issuing banks that issue payment cards an interbank commission – interchange, the amount of which is set by international payment systems (for all banks it is the same, but different for the type of card, type of merchant’s activity, etc.). The entire amount of such a commission is received by the issuing bank.
The planned concerted actions only concern interbank fees for consumer cards (i.e. for individuals, including all subcategories).
Actions to reduce interbank fees are being implemented in accordance with the Memorandum of Assistance to a Competitive Payment Market, concluded between Mastercard Europe SA, Visa International Service Association and the National Bank of Ukraine.
The reduction will be carried out in three stages:
- first, a decrease to ≤ (less or equal) 1.2% of the maximum rate of domestic interbank commissions in Ukraine in relation to consumer payment details will take place on November 26
- then the reduction will be carried out to ≤ 1% already from July 1, 2022
- the final stage – up to ≤ 0.9%, and this will happen in a year (July 1, 2023).
“As the signatories of the Memorandum note, its purpose is to improve the efficiency and expand the scope of application of non-cash card payments,” the AMCU said.
– .
