Statement on card schemes subject to domestic interchange fee caps in the UK in 2018

The Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR) has brought a number of changes to the way UK card schemes operate, most notably by introducing a cap on interchange fees applicable to certain consumer card transactions.

The IFR gives some discretion to national governments to grant a time-limited exemption from domestic interchange fee caps to certain three party card schemes until 9 December 2018. In the UK, the Government has exercised this discretion.