MasterCard has indicated to acquirers and processors that new fees will soon take effect for accessing the card network. Acquirers will be paying an annual Acquirer Licencing Fee and some Third-Party Processors will also be faced with a Type III TPP Registration Fee under a new fee structure set to take effect in July. According to PaymentsJournal’s sources, the 2012 fees will be calculated on acquirers’ 2011 volume and will equal half of the total fee calculated, since the new fee only covers half of the current year. Sources indicate that MasterCard credit and signature debit volume will be used to calculate the new fees, but PIN debit volume will be excluded.
A story from last Friday in ISO&Agent details MasterCard’s response.
“What we did is took a look at the value access to MasterCard’s network provides to acquirers as well as those who work with them … and reevaluated our acquirer fee constructs and then have made the decision to institute new or increased fees based on the value the network is providing,” [MasterCard spokesperson Seth] Eisen says.
He declined to discuss specifics on pricing of the new fees.
Eisen denies that the fee changes are a result of the new routing rule, saying “what we’ve done is take a look at the overall environment.”
But the fee changes follow an announcement by Visa last year to promote routing over its network in response to the new debit rules. The network has said it will introduce a fixed acquirer network fee that merchants ultimately would pay and lower variable transaction fees. Visa has yet to release details of the new fee structure.
The new rule is creating a shake-up of sorts, with all of the major PIN-debit networks vying for placement on issuers’ cards. And even U.S. Bancorp’s MoneyPass surcharge-free ATM network has entered the fray, announcing plans to add point-of-sale acceptance.
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