Standard Rates for Credit Card Interchange Fees Will Be Disclosed

1. The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) released a report on a survey of credit card transactions on April 8, 2022. Furthermore, in FY 2020 and FY2021, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) held a study group on developing the environment with a view toward furthering the spread of cashless payments among small and medium-sized stores, and announced a report on the findings on March 22, 2022.

A notable conclusion drawn in these two reports is as follows:

• In the market for managing merchants participating in credit cards and other payment methods, an appropriate measure in terms of promoting merchant fee negotiations between merchants and acquirers and competition among the latter will be for international brands that do not issue cards or manage merchants themselves to disclose their standard rates for interchange fees in Japan as well (Note).

2. In light of the above, the JFTC and METI have been progressively working toward the disclosure of standard rates for interchange fees by the abovementioned international brands Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa are going to release theirs by around the end of this November.

3. Furthermore, the JFTC and METI are of the following opinion:

• In order to ensure fair competitive conditions among international brands in the credit card issuance market and raise the transparency of the credit card market as a whole, international brands should ideally disclose their average issuer fee rates.

They will therefore also work toward having international brands do this as well.
 
4. The JFTC and METI will continue to work on developing a competitive environment in relation to credit cards.

Division in Charge

Cashless Payment Promotion Office, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group