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by petercooper 1974 days ago
The EU introduced a cap on such fees in 2015 after concerns they pushed prices up for consumers and unfairly burdened companies with hidden costs.

While this price increase is 'opportunism' on MasterCard's part, I've seen people argue this isn't a consequence of Brexit, even though ultimately it is. British consumers are no longer protected by the rather "feisty" pro-consumer EU courts and are now at the mercy of the rather less consumer friendly UK courts, so companies like MasterCard will be tempted to "have a go."

One possible consequence of this, especially if Visa decides to join in, is that some companies that are based in the EU for payments (such as Amazon) will open up UK subsidiaries which may actually have a benefit for the UK. Or they might just put their prices up a bit. We'll see..

I have also added this to http://brexitreality.org/ - a spreadsheet of post-Brexit "how it's going" stories which you might find useful or wish to contribute to.
2 comments
mytailorisrich 1974 days ago
Payments between the UK and the EU will become more expensive and however we look at it this will be bad for both UK consumers and UK businesses.

For example, in the UK Stripe charges one fee for European cards and another fee for non-European cards. I suppose this reflects the underlying costs. Because of this move by Mastercard I can see Stripe and others change this soonish with the lower fee applying only to UK cards (for customers based in the UK). And then we'll also have to see if the government keeps the cap for domestic transactions or decide to "cut red tape" and remove all restrictions.

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klelatti 1974 days ago
Just on the "how it's going" stories - and thanks for this - I wonder if there is scope for a co-ordinated effort to track the impact as there are a few people doing similar things. I'd certainly be happy to donate some time.

I was shocked to hear that the UK government hasn't even got a department / individual with responsibility for monitoring and managing the EU trading relationship - not even the so called 'Department for International Trade'.

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londons_explore 1974 days ago
They do have an individual... It's just such a politically hot topic whoever is in that seat keeps resigning...
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klelatti 1973 days ago
Who is that now then?
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