Could the EU Ruling on Interchange Fees Be Good News for Retailers Doing Business Across the Pond?

What's an Interchange Fee?
An interchange fee is a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. It's a fee that a merchant's bank (i.e., the "acquiring bank") pays a customer's bank (i.e., the "issuing bank"). Depending upon the industry, a merchant pays between 1 percent and 3 percent in service fees to the acquiring bank for every credit card payment it receives. This service fee includes an interchange fee, varying between 0.3 percent to 2 percent, which the acquiring bank has to pay to the issuing bank that provided the cardholder with their credit card. The exact interchange fee depends upon the industry, type of card, type of transaction and how card data is delivered.