as banks may recoup cash made from retailers in higher fees

European proposals to cut the fees that credit card companies levy on shops could end up hitting British shoppers and bank customers with a multi-million pound bill, according to new research.

Brussels’ plans centre on the ‘interchange’ fees levied by card companies on retailers who allow customers to pay with plastic and propose capping those charges at a fraction of their current levels. Retailers are hailing this as an imminent victory for themselves and shoppers. But bankers, card issuers and some economists and MPs are less sure. A new report by research consultancy Europe Economics, commissioned by MasterCard, claims that consumers across the EU’s 28 member states may have to pay billions of euros in new bank charges as a result of the planned European Commission regulations......Read more here