MasterCard to lower domestic interchange fees in the Netherlands

MasterCard Europe has announced it has agreed to lower the domestic interchange fee in the Netherlands from 0.9% down to 0.3%.

The decision to cut the fees came as a result of the Dutch Authority for Consumer and Markets starting a formal investigation on the matter of the Dutch interchange fees instilled by the card companies. MasterCard agreed to lower then fees considerably given the investigation was waived.

As a result, MasterCard Europe has constructed a 2 year plan to gradually lower the domestic Dutch interchange fee to result in a fee average as low as 0.3%.

Starting June 1^st 2014, MasterCard will lower the average domestic interchange fee to 0.7% of the amount of the transaction, down from 0.9%. The fee will see a drop again on January 1^st 2015, and be lowered to an average of 0.5%, eventually resulting in an average of 0.3% on January 1^st 2016.