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Competition Policy Issues in the Consumer Payments Industry

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Abstract

We discuss the current structure of card networks that facilitate transactions between merchants and consumers. We find that presently fees for this intermediation are considerably higher than costs. This is facilitated by rules imposed by the card networks on the merchants that do not allow merchants to steer competition to cards that have lower fees. It has also been facilitated by the requirement that a merchant has to accept all cards of the same network (honor all cards rule) -- recently abolished in the US, as well as by the fact that the networks set the maximum interface fee between issuing and acquiring banks. We propose the abolition of anti-steering rules so that merchants are able to pass on card holders the costs of the card they use. This will facilitate inter- and intra-network competition and will improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the market. Classification-L13, L41, L42, L50, L89

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Economides, 2008. "Competition Policy Issues in the Consumer Payments Industry," Working Papers 08-39, NET Institute, revised Oct 2008.
    • Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:0839
    Note: 20 pages
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    File URL: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/networks/Economides_Competition_Policy_Payments_Industry.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Berkovich Efraim, 2012. "Card Rewards and Cross-Subsidization in the Gasoline and Grocery Markets," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(4), pages 1-38, December.

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    Keywords

    card networks; payment systems; anti-steering; surcharge; discrimination; oligopoly; collusion; MasterCard; Visa; American Express; credit card; debit card;
    All these keywords.

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