of the Interchange Fee Regulation Survey to input hard ... · European Commission has to report before June ... made on MIFs to consumers and ... been for you and your business during

Thank you for participating in this important survey. EuroCommerce and its members have worked

hard to ensure a fairer balance between businesses accepting debit and credit cards and the card

schemes and banks. This formed the basis of the EU Regulation covering Interchange Fees. The

European Commission has to report before June 2019 on how well the Regulation is working. In

particular, they will be looking for evidence that merchants have passed on the savings they have

made on MIFs to consumers and whether the card schemes and acquirers have imposed new charges

on traders to compensate for revenue lost on MIFs. We can expect these and the card schemes to be

actively lobbying during the review and it will be important to have the voice of merchants clearly

heard and supported by concrete evidence.

The purpose of this survey is to collect our own independent data on how effective the Regulation has

been for you and your business during the last 12 months for which you have full figures. By agreeing to

participate in this survey, you will help protect those benefits by allowing us to present a clear picture

of what is really happening across Europe. Please therefore try to answer as many questions and be as

specific as you can.

This survey comprises six sections:

1. Your company profile

2. Visa & MasterCard Interchange fees in consumer card operations

3. Commercial cards

4. Merchant Service Charges

5. Choice of Card Products & Application Selection

6. Transparency

Your submission will be anonymised, so that your company cannot be separately identified within the

survey results.

All the information provided in this survey will be treated in confidence and no company informationAll the information provided in this survey will be treated in confidence and no company information

will be disclosed by our survey team without your explicit permission.will be disclosed by our survey team without your explicit permission.

In view of the timeframe for the Commission's review, the deadline for this survey is 20th April 201820th April 2018.

Christian Verschueren

Survey to input hard evidence into the European Commission reviewof the Interchange Fee Regulation

IFR Article 17 Review: Survey to Build the RetailCase

[1]

Director-General, EuroCommerce

If you require any clarification concerning the completion of this survey or any of the questions

contained within it, please contact:

Peter Robinson; Payments Advisor; EuroCommerce

T: +44 7885 060 856

E: [email protected]

EU Regulation (EU) 2015/751. Article 17 of the Regulation requires the Commission to report on

whether the regulation has achieved its objectives.

[1]

This section is for our information and for you to provide us with a snapshot of your company and will

be treated confidentially

Section 1: Your Company Profile


Your name

Company

City/Town

Country

Email Address

Phone Number

(please include

country code)

1. Your contact details

2. Your Economic Sector

Retail (Shop)

Retail (Shop & Online)

Retail (Online)

Wholesale

Travel Providers (airlines and sea)

Service

Hotrec (hotels, restaurants and cafés)

Supplier

Other (please specify)

3. The location covered by this specific response (please complete a separateseparate

response for each country, if you have operations in multiple Member States)

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Netherlands

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

4. The data you are quoting from for the rest of this survey is taken from the 12 12

monthmonth period:

2016

2016/ 2017

2017

5. Your total annual turnover

Less than 1.99m€

2m€ - 9.99m€

10m€ - 49.99m€

50m€ - 99m€

100m€ - 249m€

250m€ - 499m€

500m€ - 999m€

1bn€ - 1.49bn€

1.5bn€ - 1.99bn€

2bn€ - 4.99bn€

5bn€ - 9.9bn€

More than 10bn€

6. What is your card sales breakdown between domestic and EU/ EEA cards for

the Member State to which this response relates?

90% or more domestic and 10% or less EU

90% domestic and 10% EU





40% or less domestic and 60% or more EU

I don't know

7. What is your card sales breakdown between EU/ EEA cardholders and non-

EU/ EEA Card Holders for the Member State to which this response relates??

95% or more EU and 5% or less 3rd Country

90% or more EU and 10% or less 3rd Country

90% EU and 10% 3rd Country





40% or less EU and 60% or more 3rd Country

I don't know

Please specify actual number

8. Your total number of sales outlets

Single outlet

2 - 9

10 - 24

25 - 49

50 - 99

100 - 199

200 - 499

500 - 749

750 - 999

1000 - 2499

2500 - 4999

5000 and above

Please specify actual number

9. Your total number of payment terminals

Single terminal

2 - 9

10 - 24

25 - 49

50 - 99

100 - 199

200 - 499

500 - 749

750 - 999

1000 - 2499

2500 - 4999

5000 and above

This is to establish how the application of Articles 3 & 4 of the Interchange Fee Regulation (EU)

2015/751 have impacted your business in relation to cards carrying a MasterCard or Visa logo. All

Member States have adopted a 0.30% (or 30 basis points) cap on consumer CCreditredit cards, however fees

for consumer DebitDebit cards could be variable up to a maximum of 0.2% (or 20 basis points). Commercial

cards are currently excluded from this regulation.

Section 2: Visa and MasterCard Interchange fees in consumer cardoperations


10. Are you aware of the existence of a competent authority responsible for the

implementation of the IFR within the member State in this response?

Yes

No

If yes, for what reason?

11. Have you contacted this authority about any aspect of the IFR?

Yes

No

I am not aware of any authority

12. For consumer debitdebit cards, has your competent authority:

Applied a maximum cap of 0.2% for consumer debit cards

Applied a fee of 0.2% for consumer debit, but also applied a maximum transaction cost limit

(e.g. 0.2% or 0.07€ cents, which ever is the lower)

Applied a 'Weighted Average'

I don't Know

If only some of the reductions were passed on, please provide details

13. Has your card acquirer passed on these full reductions from the caps?

Yes

Not the full amount, but some

None at all

I don't know

14. What is the split of Card transactions by VALUEVALUE between Debit and Credit

(please EXCLUDEEXCLUDE commercial cards when making your selection)

10% or less Debit and 90% or more Credit

10% Debit and 90% Credit





60% Debit and 40% or Credit



90% or more Debit

I don't know

10% or

less

Debit

and

90% or

more

Credit

10%

Debit

and

90%

Credit

20%

Debit

and

80%

Credit

30%

Debit

and

70%

Credit

40%

Debit

and

60%

Credit

50%

Debit

and

50%

Credit

60%

Debit

and

40%

Credit

70%

Debit

and

30%

Credit

80%

Debit

and

20%

Credit

90% or

more

Debit

I don't

know

Visa

MasterCard

15. Are you able to apportion a split between Visa and MasterCard cards?

(please EXCLUDEEXCLUDE commercial cards when making your selection)

We aim to identify if there has been an increase in either the cost or the use of 'Commercial' or

'Corporate' cards since the IFR was introduced.

Section 3: Commercial Cards


16. Do you technically differentiate between commercial cards and consumer cards

at PoS?

Yes (please explain how)

No

I don't know

Please explain how you differentiate between commercial and consumer cards

17. At PoS, are commercial cards handled differently to consumer cards in any

way?

No

Yes (please explain briefly how)

18. Does the Member State authority, to which this response relates, permit the

surcharging of commercial cards?

Yes

No

I don't know

Please provide further information to explain your choice

19. Which statement below best reflects your policy on accepting Commercial

Cards?

We have already stopped accepting these

cards because they cost too much

We plan to stop accepting these cards

because they cost too much

We plan to surcharge these cards because

they cost too much

Our authorities don't allow surcharging, but

we would surcharge these cards if it were

possible

We already surcharge these cards, because

they cost too much

We plan to continue accepting these cards

without surcharging for customer service

reasons

If more than 50%, please specify

20. As a percentage of your total card sales, what percent of transaction

volume relates to 'Commercial' or 'Corporate' Cards

Less than 2% by Transaction Volume

2%-5% by Transaction Volume






50% or more by Transaction Volume

I don't know


21. As a percentage of your total card sales, what percent by VALUE relates to

'Commercial' or 'Corporate' Cards

Less than 2% by Transaction Value

2%-5% by Transaction Value

5%-10% by Transaction value





50% or more by Transaction value

I don't know


22. In percentage terms, can you quantify any increase in your overall VOLUME

of Commercial cards since January 2016

There has been no change in volume

less than 10% increase

10% - 20% increase

20% - 30% increase

30% - 40% increase

40% - 50% increase

50% - 60%

more than 60%

I don't know

If more than 50m€, please specify

23. If there was an increase in the volume of Commercial cards, approximately

how much extra has this cost you annually?

Less than 50k€

50k€ - 100k€

100k€ - 500k€

500k€ - 1m€

1.5m€ - 5m€

5m€ - 10m€

10m€ - 20m€

20m€ -50m€

more than 50m€

I don't know

24. Have you seen any increases in your Commercial card fees?

No

I don't know

Yes (please explain briefly)

This section is to determine the actual impact of the IFR within your business.

Section 4: Merchant Service Charges (MSC)


Yes No I don't know

Visa

MasterCard

If yes, please expand on the nature and type of these additional costs by providing as much

information as possible.

25. Have any new contract provisions or additional fees (such as scheme fees,

processing fees, authorisation fees or CAPs on refunds) been introduced that

have reduced your benefits from the IFR?

Reduced Increased Stayed the same I don't know

Visa

MasterCard

26. Since this regulation entered into force, has your overalloverall Merchant Service

Charge (the total fees you pay for card acceptance):

Increased Decreased No Change

Consumer credit

cards

Consumer debit

cards

Commercial

cards

TotalTotal credit, debitcredit, debit

& Commercial& Commercial

cardscards

27. Taking your total Merchant Service Charge costs into account, would you

say that:

Reduced by

15%

Reduced by

10%-15%

Reduced by

5%-10% No change

Increased

by 5%

Increased

by 5%-10%

I don't

know

Debit/Prepaid

Credit

Commercial

28. Could you elaborate on the overalloverall movement in your fees in Percentage

Terms (only select one answer per row)

29. Please elaborate on the overalloverall movement in Basis Points?

(Basis Points are a unit of measure used to describe the percentage change in a value or rate. 1 basis point is equivalent

to 0.01%, therefore 5 basis points is equivalent to a movement of 0.05%)

A Fall of more than 5 Basis Points

Fall 4-5 Basis Points




Fall of less than 1 Basis Point

Increase of less than 1 Basis point

Increase 1-2 Basis Points



Increase more than 4 Basis Points

I don't know

Please expand on your answer and provide as much information as possibe as the Commission will

be looking for evidence of this occuring

30. How have you passed on any savings from the IFR to your customers?

Through reducing prices across one or more

lines

A blanket price reduction

Promotions that would not have happened

otherwise

We have not made any savings as a result of

the IFR

We have not passed on any savings to our

customers

Invested internally to improve customer

payment processes

Other

The IFR provides new rules that allow businesses accepting cards to choose which cards to accept or

to prioritise their preferred cards at the payment terminal (choice of application) - provided certain

rules are followed.

Section 5: Choice of Card Products and Application Selection


If 'No', please explain the reasons

31. Have you publicised your prefered payment products in your store?

Yes

No

32. Where have you publicised your preferred choices of payment application?

(You may select more than one option)

Signage at payment terminals

On the terminal's upfront selection

Signage at the doors

Signage at other key areas in store

On our online shop's 'check-out' page

In our promotional material

33. Are you ready to implement software or hardware changes to allow choice

of application selection at point of sale?

Equipment already in use

First quarter of 2018

Second quarter 2018

Later than July 2018

No preference, we will let customers choose

Waiting for Payments Services Provider to

provide technical solution

Not applicable

I don't know

If for operational or other technical reasons, is it possible to briefly explain the issue?

34. What was the biggest single problem you encountered in implementing the

choice of payment application selection at Point of Sale?

We did not encounter any problems

Payments Services Provider not ready

Equipment suppliers not ready

Operational reasons

Other technical reasons

We have no plans to implement

Not applicable

35. What is the total cost of implementing the IFR choice of payment

application

Less than 99k€

Between 100k€ - 499k€

Between 500k€ - 999k€

Between 1m€ - 1.999m€

Between 2m€ - 9.999m€

10m€ or more

Not applicable

The IFR provides for transparent access to information regarding card fees. This would allow you to

un-blend the rates across several types of card products on your bank statement in order to identify

the individual components that make up your overall Merchant Service Charge (MSC).

Section 6: Transparency


If you do not have all the information you need, please explain briefly what is missing

36. Does your card acquiring bank now provide you with clear information to

enable you to distinguish the different fee elementsfee elements within your Merchant

Service Charge? (Interchange fee, Scheme Fee, Card Acquirer Processing Fee )

My card acquirer now provides all this

information

My statements are clearer, but do not

contain all the information I need

Our acquirer is setting up a new structure to

provide transparent information

There has been no change to the information

provided

Our acquirer is unable to provide transparent

information

I have said I do not need this level of detail



enable you to distinguish the different card typescard types within your Merchant Service

Charge (consumer credit, consumer debit, pre-paid, commercial/ corporate)?


information






provided


information




enable you to distinguish different card originscard origins within your Merchant Service

Charge, such as 'domesticdomestic' (transactions using cards originating from within

this home country), 'INTRA-RegionalINTRA-Regional' (transactions using cards originating

from within the EEA region) and 'INTER-regionalINTER-regional' (transactions using cards

from outside the EEA)?


information






provided


information


This is the end of the questionnaire. Thank you for your time spent completing this survey. This review

of Article 17 of the IFR will be an important milestone. Your participation in this survey will help

protect the benefits merchants enjoy from this regulation.

We should remind you that any data provided to this survey will be treated in the strictest confidence

at all times and will not be disclosed without your explicit permission.

Completion


Documents

of the Interchange Fee Regulation Survey to input hard ... · European Commission has to report before June ... made on MIFs to consumers and ... been for you and your business during