Banks are placing excessive levies on retailers who accept payment via plastic and the new UK government should intervene, says British Retail Consortium director general Stephen Robertson.
“There is no justification for such big differences in charges between cards and cash. Contactless systems can bring benefits, but banks are currently levying charges on card payments well beyond what it actually costs them to process those transactions. ”
Charges have almost doubled in five years. The combination of high card charges mixed with the growth of non-cash payment methods looks to bring major profits for banks, and a financial blow for shops and customers.
Retailers fear this treatment may soon be the norm for the emerging contactless and mobile phone payments - extra costs that would inevitably passed on to customers through higher prices.
“They (the banks) can’t expect to maintain those excessive charges as numbers of non-cash payments grow.” ![[end]](/resources/bullet/contactlessnews-4.gif)
