Retailers and card issuers are at loggerheads over interchange fees in a battle that puts billions of dollars at stake and goes right to the heart of whether the payment card industry is a free market or whether it needs regulatory intervention.
Interchange fees, which are paid by the merchant’s bank to the cardholder’s bank every time a card is used, has long been contentious. Merchants have been vocal – and successful – in lobbying for intervention in the industry, which has taken different forms in markets around the world.
