PSR updates guidance on the UK Interchange Fee Regulation

The Payment Systems Regulator has published a policy statement (PS21/1) with revised guidance on its approach to monitoring and enforcing compliance with the Interchange Fee Regulation.

When the guidance was originally published in 2016, it outlined the PSR's approach to monitoring and enforcing the EU IFR. The updated version reflects changes arising from Brexit and sets out the key differences between the EU IFR and the UK IFR, which are:

• The scope: The UK IFR caps UK transactions (where the point of sale, acquirer and card issuer are all based in the UK). It does not cap UK/EU cross-border transactions.
  
  
• The UK IFR does not use the term 'competent authority': The PSR and the FCA are not designated as competent authorities under the UK IFR. However, the PSR and the FCA retain their roles and responsibilities in relation to the UK IFR.
  
  
• The RTS Regulation has been replaced by the onshored RTS Regulation: The original RTS regulation was adopted under Article 7 EU IFR, which introduced specific requirements relating to the independence of payment card schemes and processing entities.

The PSR is monitoring compliance with the UK IFR and will take action where appropriate.