Bira and PSR Research on Cross Border Interchange Fees

If you sell products/services to consumers in the EEA, we want to hear from you.

The PSR is currently conducting a market review of consumer cross-border interchange fees between the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA). It was concluded in December 2024 that interchange fees on UK-EEA consumer card-not-present (‘CNP’) outbound transactions had increased to unduly high levels and that a cap on these interchange fees would be the most appropriate remedy.  Since then, it has developed a methodology to assess the appropriate level of these fees and consulted stakeholders on this approach in October 2025.

The upfront costs of accepting payments consist of the direct fees and commissions that acquirers charge. The PSR are currently collecting this pricing data from acquirers, who are responsible for invoicing merchants.

To assess all relevant costs, the PSR also wants to include the administrative, operational, and technical costs borne by merchants when processing payments with different payment methods. We refer to these as ‘back-office’ costs, since they relate directly to internal time spent by a merchant to process payments.

If any of your turnover comes from EEA consumers, we are keen to understand the magnitude of the back-office costs you are experiencing.

Please take a moment to complete our survey.   Responses are required no later than 23:59 on Sunday 16th August 2026.

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