Bank Cards: Fees and Charges

(asked on 27th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Mastercard’s decision to increase transaction fees for UK shoppers using debit or credit cards to make purchases in the EU, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the implementation of a cap on such transaction fees.


Answered by
John Glen Portrait
John Glen
Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question was answered on 1st February 2021

The Government has legislated to ensure that interchange fees remain capped for UK domestic card transactions, where both the card issuer and acquirer are located in the UK, through secondary legislation made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

Any changes in cross-border interchange fees between the UK and EU, as between the UK and other third countries, are a result of commercial decisions by card schemes.

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