At the launch of its work programme for 2018/19, hosted in London on 21 March, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) announced a review into the cards payment market. 

ABTA has been calling for this review, and is encouraging Members to submit evidence to support its work with the regulator and government. In particular, Members are asked to submit any evidence relating to the following:

• Non-compliance with the IFR interchange rates of 0.2% for debit cards, 0.3% for credit cards;
• Lack of transparency relating to interchange rates being applied (where this is not spelt out clearly by the acquirer); 
• Failure of your acquirer to provide information on interchange fees at transactional level, if this has been specifically requested by the retailer; 
• Failure of your acquirer to provide information on card types, where this has been requested by the retailer;
• Evidence of increases in other charges within the merchant service fee (such as scheme fees).

Please send your evidence to Luke Petherbridge, Senior Public Affairs Manager, publicaffairs@abta.co.uk, or get in touch with any questions you might have. Any evidence provided will only be used for the purpose outlined, and all information will be anonymised before being shared with the regulator or government by ABTA.

ABTA is setting up meetings with the regulator, officials from HM Treasury, and other players within the payments marketplace to discuss breaches that are being demonstrated by Members. 

In addition to participating in the market review, we will also be submitting a response to the government’s consultation, which closes on 5 June, urging action to address unfair charges and increase transparency. Members will be invited to provide input to ABTA’s response, and to support our lobbying efforts, in due course.