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PREVIEW-EU executive nears ruling on credit cards
Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:42am EST
By Huw Jones

BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Europe's credit card industry expects a landmark ruling from the European Commission on fees this week that may determine the range of cards consumers will have in their wallets in future.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes is expected to say that MasterCard (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) must cut the so-called interchange fee it sets on the chain of banks that allow a customer to buy goods and services outside their home state, industry officials say.

Kroes has said consumers are being "ripped off" by card fees and the ruling will reverberate widely.

Twelve of the EU's 27 member states are also waiting for Kroes' decision as it will shape how they deal with interchange fees charged by domestic card schemes.

It will also affect fees set by MasterCard's arch-rival Visa Europe -- the two were dubbed by Kroes in January as "an effective duopoly" that make "outrageous profits".

The decision will also determine whether it is economic for new entrants to compete with the two schemes that dominate international credit card payments in the EU.

International transactions account for 3 percent of card usage but this is expected to grow as barriers to cross-border services are torn down and people become more mobile.

Retailers say they are fed up with forking out billions of euros on a fee that includes provision for non-payment, fraud, promotions and free credit.

Shops insist they should only be paying "at par" or only for the actual electronic transaction needed to complete a purchase. This would save retailers 10 billion euros a year just on MasterCard, lobby Eurocommerce has said.

Banks that issue the cards say if the Commission slashes the fee, it could push up annual card fees and make it uneconomic for new schemes to be set up to rival MasterCard and Visa.

This, the banks say, would mean that the EU's 490 million consumers would have to rely on the two main firms for cross-border payments.


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The average interchange fee set by MasterCard is 1.1 percent of the transaction.

Visa Europe has already agreed to cap its interchange fee at 0.7 percent in a multi-year deal with the European Commission that runs out at the end of December.

People familiar with the two companies say Kroes is expected to say that MasterCard should cut its interchange fee to somewhere below 0.7 percent as she will also want to push down Visa's fee when it comes to negotiating a new multi-year deal with them next year.

Nobody expects Kroes to scrap interchange fees and MasterCard may even be given time to cut its fees in stages.

MasterCard says it should keep the principle of setting its own fees and that the EU executive has no power to cap them.

It fully expects a ruling that will be negative for the company and has already mapped out its appeal, leaving only the question of whether it can persuade the court to suspend the ruling until the appeal process is completed.

Credit card industry officials say Kroes should not follow the example of the Reserve Bank of Australia which last year slashed interchange fees.

Card industry officials say the result was a rise in annual card fees and one player dropping out of the sector.

Next month, the EU launches a single euro payments area that aims to make cross-border credit transfers, card payments and direct debits as easy and cheap as domestic ones.

Kroes and the European Central Bank hope it will spur competition in card payments but so far no new credit card scheme is ready to launch as the whole industry is waiting to see what impact Kroes' decision will have on business models.

Earlier this month, Kroes said new schemes need not cover all EU countries from the start, a plea which card industry officials said sounded desperate.

(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Erica Billingham)