Multilateral Interchange Fees are prohibited in the EU
On 11 September 2014, the Court of Justice of the EU (“ECJ”) ruled that the Multilateral Interchange Fees applied by MasterCard are prohibited, creating a base for lower usage costs for all retailers and consumers within the European Union.
The Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIF) are the balancing payments between the bank of a retailer and the bank of a consumer to cover the costs of a card transaction. The fees are paid indirectly by a retailer to a cardholders’ bank after the cardholder pays with a credit card.