ComCom cuts transaction fees
The Commerce Commission has confirmed it will reduce how much banks can charge to process credit card payments, which it says will save Kiwi businesses $90 million a year. The Interchange fee makes up about 60 per cent of the total fee a business has to pay to accept credit card and contactless payments. The Commission says those fees cost businesses around $1 billion a year, which is often passed onto their customers through surcharges and higher product costs. It has not made a decision yet on regulating those surcharges - with Commission chair John Small saying this will be the next step. An initial pricing cap on interchange fees for some domestic transactions on the Mastercard and Visa credit and debit networks came into force in November 2022, which is estimated to have saved businesses $160 million a year.
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