On July 1st, reporters learned from several banks and acquiring institutions that following the implementation of various measures by domestic banks and payment institutions to enhance payment convenience for international visitors, the process of reducing credit card transaction fees by international card organizations is progressing steadily. Recently, transaction fees for foreign cards have significantly decreased
As of June 15th, Visa and Mastercard have finished upgrading their fee reduction systems in Chinese mainland. Following this, domestic acquiring institutions have lowered transaction fees for offline card transactions, except in certain specific industries, according to the fee reduction notices from Visa and Mastercard. By the end of June, most acquiring institutions had completed the necessary work, including updating system rates for merchants, notifying merchants, and renewing agreements.
High transaction fees for accepting foreign cards have been one of the reasons for the inconvenience of using foreign cards in China. Previously, merchants were charged around 2.5% to 3% for processing foreign card transactions, compared to around 0.6% for domestic card transactions, with mobile payment fees being even lower. Since transaction fees are borne by merchants, there has been a lack of enthusiasm for accepting foreign cards.
Banks such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of Communications have expressed their commitment to adjusting merchant acquiring fee rates accordingly. They aim to pass on the benefits of the fee reductions to merchants, thereby lowering the costs of accepting foreign cards, improving the acceptance environment, and enhancing payment convenience for international visitors to China.
Additionally, reporters learned that, apart from Visa and Mastercard, American Express has been applying domestic rates for foreign card transactions since the launch of its domestic joint venture in August 2020.
