LONDON (Reuters) – There is no effective competition in core credit card services where Visa (NYSE:) and MasterCard (NYSE:) are the biggest players, and there is a need for more transparency for users, the British Payment Systems Regulatory Authority said in an interim report. Tuesday.
“PSR found that over the past five years, after taking into account changes in volume, Mastercard and Visa have increased their scheme and processing fees by more than 30% in real terms. There is little evidence that service quality has improved at the same rate,” PSR said in a statement. .
The PSR said it had proposed “remedies” for public consultation, which include improved transparency for users, and obligations on Mastercard and Visa to explain, consult on and/or document the reasons for price changes.
It said it also proposed greater reporting of financial information to the PSR on an ongoing basis to improve scrutiny of Mastercard and Visa's UK operations in the future.