This consultation closed on 1 March 2019, and we have published the responses.
The PSR is conducting a market review into the supply of card-acquiring services. The final Terms of Reference (ToR) were published on 24 January 2019.
The ToR state that the PSR will examine how the level of the fees merchants pay for card-acquiring services have responded to changes in the fees acquirers pay to card system operators (scheme fees) and card issuers (interchange fees).
What this document contains
The purpose of this working paper is to explain how we propose to run that analysis. We welcome comments on the working paper and particularly on the consultation questions.
Who should read this document
This is a technical working paper. It is likely to be of most interest to acquirers. It may also be of interest to card scheme operators and payment facilitators. Other stakeholders, such as merchants and issuers, may also be interested in its contents.
What happens next?
We plan to publish a report setting out our interim conclusions on the supply of card-acquiring services in Q4 2019. This interim report will explain how we updated our analysis to take account of comments on the working paper and the results of the analysis.