In January, the ministry announced plans to cap the interbank fees charged on debit and credit card transactions to 0.2% and 0.3% on each transaction, respectively. This would translate into a reduction of 50% to 90% of the current interchange fees.
At the end of February, Dan Manolescu, a state secretary with the finance ministry said that Romania is considering a two-step reduction of inter-bank fees for card payments, following a series of appeals to the Finance Ministry from businesses and card processors, who requested a new assessment of proposed fee levels or even a delay of the reduction process.
While the retailers welcomed the project and said the ministry should step up the implementation process, bankers and card processors argued the move would be premature and the interchange fees should be lowered gradually, potentially in two steps.