On 2 April 2025, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) published a consultation paper, CP25/1, on proposed remedies to the issues that it found in the final report of its market review into scheme and processing fees.

Background

Following increases in card scheme and processing fees paid by UK businesses, the PSR has been examining the level of these fees to understand whether they, or other factors, indicate the market is not working well. The final report of its market review found that core scheme and processing fees to acquirers had increased by at least 25% since 2017, at significant cost to businesses, and that the lack of easy-to-understand fee information led to costs for acquirers and merchants.

Proposals

In CP25/1, the PSR is seeking views on several proposed remedies intended to adddress the problems identified in its final report, including:

• Requiring schemes to provide more information on fees so merchants can better understand the fees they are charged and ultimately reduce costs.
• Regulatory financial reporting to allow the PSR to effectively monitor and understand the schemes’ financial performance on fees charged in the UK.
• Requiring schemes to improve their processes around pricing decisions’ process and record keeping to enable the PSR to better understand the appropriateness of these fees.
• More information to be published by schemes to improve accountability and transparency.

Next steps

The consultation closes on 28 May 2025.

The PSR notes that if, after analysing the responses, it decides to proceed with one or all of the remedies, then there will be a final consultation (including a cost benefit analysis and a draft direction) on the specific remedy package that it proposes to introduce.