Interchange fees

The move by Kroger Co. comes in response to rising interchange fees on Visa's premium credit cards. The cards will be banned at 142 Smith's stores in the western U.S.

Visa and Mastercard plan to raise interchange while battles over those rates and other levies such as merchant surcharging rage on, setting the stage for extra merchant expense, consumer costs and even more squabbling.

Given the competitive nature of the current marketplace and the low probability that interchange rates will actually go up, issuers and processors need to continually evaluate their infrastructure, writes Steve Gilde, director of global product marketing for Paragon Application Systems.

The European Commission has fined Mastercard 570 million Euros, or about $648 million, over card network rules that prevented merchants from shopping for better terms at other banks in the EU.

The number of states not allowing surcharging on credit card purchases continues to dwindle, as New York now gives merchants the option to charge fees as long as they make the costs clear to consumers.

LifeLock co-founder Robert Maynard is behind a startup called SurchX, which hopes to capitalize on the confusion around swipe fees with technology that generates a surcharge amount customized for each transaction.

The Australian government is evaluating a set of proposals to radically reform its payments industry, including abolishing interchange and opening up access for new entrants to core infrastructure.

It could be tempting to pick the easiest pricing option to understand and move on. But other times, more complex pricing options can really help businesses save money, writes Angelo Grecco, chief business development officer for CardConnect.

Large retailers want the right to reject rewards cards at the point of sale to avoid higher swipe fees; Germany's financial regulator appoints an auditor to monitor the Deutsche Bank's progress.

European banks are testing rings, watches and bracelets that are linked to credit and debit accounts; European regulators appear keener on increasing competition than U.S. counterparts.

The Danish bank found more than $200 billion of suspicious deals at its Estonian branch; merchants can opt out of the deal as another case on network rules continues.

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. agreed to pay as much as $6.2 billion to end a long-running price-fixing case brought by merchants over card fees, the largest-ever class action settlement of an antitrust case.

The growth and dominant market share position of payment cards in U.K. retail sales is prompting a new pushback from retailers who are wary of rising network fees.

The Tennessee regional said the sale should boost quarterly profit by $160 million.

The U.S. companies agreed to reduce the average annual interchange rate in Canada by 10 basis points to 1.4 percent on cardThe new rate takes effect in 2020 and runs for five years. The government estimated that small and medium-sized businesses could save C$25,000 over the period.

Kroger Co., the largest U.S. supermarket chain, said a California subsidiary will stop accepting Visa credit cards beginning next month in a dispute over swipe fees.

Mark Horwedel, the outgoing Merchant Advisory Group CEO, wasn't always on the merchants' side. Through much of the 1970s through 1990s, his career path placed him firmly in the world of bankers.

Though Costco is no longer called out in the New York issuer's earnings calls, the loss of that business added fuel to a change within the company that is showing results.

This week's ruling from a U.K. appeals court is the latest of many episodes in a battle between merchants and card brands that has influenced regulations, technology, market strategies and nearly all other aspects of the payments ecosystem.

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are getting close to settling a 13-year-old lawsuit over fees charged when merchants accept card payments, according to a person familiar with the agreement.