By outlawing this mechanism, the EBF feels that the Commission not only threatens the economic viability of existing systems but, above all, freezes any potential new investments therein. The EBF and its members feel that the decision is in clear contradiction with the very notion of a Single Euro Payments Area which aims to remove country borders and thereby foster greater competition with the emergence of new players.
The consequences of this decision will weigh heavily on consumers in the long term as it compromises the efficient and secure card payment systems upon which they have come to rely in a highly competitive arena that is open to all banks.
The EBF feels that the development of an efficient and modern euro payments area will be delayed or hampered if Commission rulings on acceptable fees are only taken after the fact, i.e. once the systems have been developed and are in place. Indeed, cash is still overwhelmingly used as preferred payment instrument in SEPA and it remains to be seen how prohibiting interchange fees will support the efforts of the banking industry to reduce the use of cash and its cost to society.
Accordingly, the EBF requests that the European Commission clearly and explicitly outlines the provisions and rules that will allow for an efficient euro payments area, with the objective to reduce the use of cash in Europe and to externalise the costs of different payment instruments so as to make their price more transparent to all.
