“Interbank fees for card payments in Romania, as well as in other states, are high and they do not reflect the costs. The European Parliament is expected to regulate the level of these payments by the end of the year,” Bogdan Chiritoiu said Tuesday.
Speaking at a conference organized by Mediafax, Chiritoiu said Romanian lawmakers are likely to lower the interchange fees by the second half of 2014.
Romania would be the third EU member to cap card fees, after Poland and Hungary.
In January, the finance 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.
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 interbank fees should be lowered gradually, potentially in two steps.