The European Commission sets sights on Visa’s inter-regional interchange fees

The European Commission has taken another step in its long-running tussle with Visa over interchange fees, turning its attention to the fees merchants in the EU must pay on transactions involving cards issued outside of the region.

In 2014, the Commission finally closed proceedings against Visa Europe after the card firm agreed to cap its interchange fees for cross-border credit card payments at 0.3%. A similar deal on debit cards was reached in 2010.

But now the EC has sent a ‘statement of objections’ relating to an investigation into inter-region interchange fees, most typically made on card transactions by tourists or other travellers.

These “represent an important part of the total fees within the Visa scheme” says the EC, which has given Visa two months to reply and has the power to levy fines of up to 10% of the card firm’s global turnover.