2023-04-27 10:42:03
Since 2018, banks are gradually replacing their traditional cards with Maestro or Visa direct debit cards. For example, La Poste has integrated the functionalities of the Debit Mastercard into its Postfinance card.
Stefano Campana is responsible for cards at the Cantonal Bank of Fribourg, the first to issue the new Debit Mastercard in 2018. Asked by On en parle, he explains the main change for customers: “This mainly concerns online payments and digitization cards in digital wallets like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, or in mobile apps like SBB’s. We want to make them accessible to everyone.”
Another change is the price. For example, at the BCF, if the Maestro card cost 30 francs per year, the Mastercard now costs 10 francs more, or 40 francs. An increase that Stefano Campana justifies: “In return, we have removed the blocking and replacement costs.”
A big difference for merchants and SMEs
For merchants and SMEs, the use of these new cards has led to a sharp increase in fees. According to the specialized site Moneyland, on a fixed device from Worldline, the French multinational payment and transaction services leader in the market, the fixed cost per transaction is 28 cents with the Maestro card and 23 cents with the classic Postfinance card. The costs of the new cards per transaction add up a fixed amount of 10 cents to a percentage of the price: 0.5% for Debit Mastercard and 1% at Visa. On a purchase of 100 francs in a small business, these costs therefore increase to 60 cents with Debit Mastercard and 1 franc 05 with Visa Debit, against 28 cents with the Maestro card.
Mr Price has already intervened to limit these increases in 2021. For Mastercard, commissions are capped at two francs per transaction and at Visa, three francs.
Despite this, the situation is sometimes deemed untenable for small businesses, which refuse to use the card below a certain amount, or even charge the card fees to their customers. This is the case of Richard Demierre, a butcher in Vaulruz (FR). “If you add up all the fees, you would have to raise the prices of the meat to the point that people would no longer come to the butcher shop. At the moment I am not raising my prices, but I am charging the card fees . In 2021, I paid a card fee of 16,000 francs.”
For Stefano Campana, it is a question of abandoning certain costs in favor of others: “Cash management in itself also costs. There is the risk of theft, the fact that he has to go and deposit the money These are costs he did not factor into his calculation.”
Interchange fees, the sinews of war
This price increase is due in particular to the new bank interchange fees, which did not exist with the Maestro. They are deducted by the purchasers and transferred to the banks. In Switzerland, several acquirers are present, including the leader Worldline, Nets and SumUp. In addition to making payment terminals available to businesses, these companies also take care of risk management, fraud prevention measures and provide a technical assistance service.
Contacted by On en parle, Marianne Bregenzer, general manager of Nets for Switzerland, provides some details. “Merchant fees are made up of three parts: interchange fees, which accrue to card-issuing banks, fees for using the Visa and Mastercard card networks, and our share, to cover our expenses. no influence on the other two fees, which we only pass on.” She adds that in addition to the addition of interchange fees, card usage fees have increased. Nets, on the other hand, did not increase its fees.
“These costs represent between two and 20 cents at the most. They allow us to develop the infrastructure, to respect the security standards and to cover our costs. The Maestro has not evolved for 20 years, because we had no not these costs”, replies Stefano Campana. It clarifies that the fee covers “Visa and Mastercard supplier payment and IT infrastructure.”
Radio subject: Isabelle Fiaux and Bastien von Wyss
Adaptation web: Myriam Semaani
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#debit #cards #convenient #expensive #merchants #rts.ch