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UK businesses call on MPs to take urgent action on card payments
13 Sep '21
2 min read
Pic: British Retail Consortium
A group of trade bodies representing UK retail and hospitality firms recently appealed to parliamentarians to intervene to protect businesses and consumers from the mounting cost of anti-competitive practices in card payments. The Payment Systems Regulator is failing to meet its objectives and its new strategy is a five-year license to deliver ‘very little’, it alleged.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and UKHospitality, in a press release, demanded immediate action to tackle soaring card fees that add to the price of goods and services.
Since the pandemic, British businesses and their customers have become more dependent on card payments than ever before, with more customers shopping online or paying by card in store.
Cards now constitute more than 80 per cent of UK retail sales, with Visa and Mastercard accounting for 99 per cent of card transactions. Retailers spent £1.3 billion in 2020 to accept payments from their customers and ultimately these costs, equivalent to more than £46 per household, will be passed onto the consumer.
BRC, BIRA, ACS FSB and UKHospitality came together in a similar joint call last year but no action has so far been taken by the regulator. This time the trade associations are calling on the British parliament and its treasury committee to urgently intervene.
Nearly 40 cross-party MPs have already written to the regulator this year calling for robust regulatory measures on card fees.
Last year, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Visa and Mastercard interchange fees are unlawful. The UK should not continue to allow such fees and the regulator must directly address anti-competitive card fees in its future strategy.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and UKHospitality, in a press release, demanded immediate action to tackle soaring card fees that add to the price of goods and services.
Since the pandemic, British businesses and their customers have become more dependent on card payments than ever before, with more customers shopping online or paying by card in store.
Cards now constitute more than 80 per cent of UK retail sales, with Visa and Mastercard accounting for 99 per cent of card transactions. Retailers spent £1.3 billion in 2020 to accept payments from their customers and ultimately these costs, equivalent to more than £46 per household, will be passed onto the consumer.
BRC, BIRA, ACS FSB and UKHospitality came together in a similar joint call last year but no action has so far been taken by the regulator. This time the trade associations are calling on the British parliament and its treasury committee to urgently intervene.
Nearly 40 cross-party MPs have already written to the regulator this year calling for robust regulatory measures on card fees.
Last year, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Visa and Mastercard interchange fees are unlawful. The UK should not continue to allow such fees and the regulator must directly address anti-competitive card fees in its future strategy.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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