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Contents of all issues published so far:
Issue 5 (December 2023)
1. SCA for Payments via EU Digital Identity Wallet: End of the Puzzle?
Issue 4 (December 2023)
1. The Compensation Model of the Digital Euro: Mission Impossible
Issue 3 (November 2023)
1. Developments in Card Fraud
2. Are the Domestic Card Schemes in the EU on the decline?
Issue 2 (June 2023), available also in German language
1. PSD3: EU Commission favours extension of surcharging ban despite criticism
2.“New Debit”- Boom in Germany in 2022?
Issue 1 (February 2023), available also in German languae
1. Digital euro: The concept and implications for privacy
2. Planned AML Regulation: No anonymous payment via e-money
Issue 4-5 (December 2022), available also in German language
1. The Instant Credit Transfer: With Compulsion to the New Normal
2. Russia: Exclusion and sovereignty in the payment card business
Issue 3 (November 2022), available also in German language
1. The relevance of the climate change for payment business
2. The relative success of the German debit card scheme girocard
Issue 2 (October 2022), available also in German language
1. Apple Pay Later: the future of BNPL?
2. Regulation of BNPL-services
Issue 1 (July 2022), available also in German language
1. Are smartphones, PCs or even cars payment instruments?
– the confusing definition of payment instrument in PSD2 –
Issue 10 (Dezember 2021), available also in German language
1. Do Mastercard and Visa dominate the European card market?
Appendix: Market shares of card schemes in the EU
Issue 8-9 (Dezember 2021), available also in German language
1. To regulate or not to regulate: Big Tech and banking regulators
2. Card Scheme Fees: still a bone of contention
Appendix: Increase in Card Scheme Fees in Germany According to CMSPI
3. Amazon UK puts the brakes on Visa: Big Tech versus Big Scheme
1. PSD2: The Limited Network Exclusion (LNE)
Appendix: Genese of the LNE in EMD and PSD
1. European Payments Initiative (EPI): German savings banks plan to put some money on the table
2. EPI, the end of Maestro and the co-badging issue
1. Covid-year 2020: Skid marks in European card business
2. Cross-border acquiring in Europe: new figures
1. Planned EU regulation of crypto assets: New wine in old and new wineskins!
Appendix: Asset-referenced token (ART) as regulatory response to Libra 1.0
2. POS terminals in Europe: Update
1. Is there a future for a European payments scheme?
1. The EU Commissions Retail Payments Strategy for the EU
Appendix: Update market shares of the domestic card schemes in the EU 2019
1. Pandemic and card business: the hoped-for V-curve
2. IFR: Idiosyncratic interpretations by the Commission
1. What to make of the ECB’s Sixth Report on Card Fraud
1. Danish Dankort: Competitive pressure from Mastercard & Visa
2. Netherlands: Market foreclosure by Interchange Fee agreements
1. POS terminals in Europe: A closer look
Update: Cross-Border Acquiring in Europe
1. Impact analysis of IF-Regulation: The loser is…..
2. Has the IFR boosted the European card business?
Issue 1-2 (March 2020)
1. Interchange Fee Regulation: Diverging Assessment Reports
2. Consumer credit by credit cards in Europe: more payments – more credit?
Issue 9-10 (December 2019)
1. Payments: no longer a boring plumbing business
2. Apple versus the banks: „Lex Apple Pay“ and beyond
3. The PEPSI challenge
Issue 8 (November 2019)
1: Rising of Card Scheme Fees: Circumvention of the IF Regulation?
Update: MArket shares of the domestic card schemes in the EU 2018
Issue 6-7 (September 2019)
1. Facebook’s Libra: Game changer or non-starter?
2. Facebool’s Libra: E-Money or not?
3. The 1 million euro Wirecards-Aldi deal
Letter to the Editor to „SEPA for Cards“
Issue 5 (July 2019)
1. SEPA for cards: rising from the dead
Issue 3-4 (May/June 2019)
1. Are domestic card schemes extinct species in Europe?
2. Why is the German national scheme „girocard“ rocketing
3. Payment speed: Cash versus Cards
Issue 2 (March 2019)
1. Danish national cost duty for payments – cost has fallen 50%
2. Mobile, cards and instant payments: friends or foes?
Issue 1 (February 2019)
1. UnionPay: Card Champion of the World
2. Alipay’s e-money license in Europe
Issue 9-10 (December 2018)
1. Drastic anti-cash regulation: the future in cards?
2. Sucharge I: Brexit
3. Surcharge II: PayPal (Flixbus)
Issue 8 (November 2018)
1. Denmark. Domestic card scheme under pressure?
2. Update of Reg. 924: Card issuers, wake up!
Issue 7 (October 2018)
1. Card fraud in Europe
2. Donald Trump – Father of the European Card Scheme?
Issue 6 (August 2018)
1. „Vollgeld“, virtual currencies and the idea of a cashless world
2. UK PSR plans to undertake an acquiring review
Issue 4-5 (July 2018)
1. IFR: A debit card is „definitely“ not a credit card
2. IFR: Relevance of „Universal Cards“
3. IFR: Violations by German card issuers?
Issue 2-3 (May 2018)
1. Regulation 924: Lex Britannica
2. Regulation 924: Currency conversion
3. Payment relevance of geo-blocking regulation
Issue 1 (February 2018)
1. Judgment of the European Court of Justice on Interchange Fee Regulation
2. SCA & remote payment transactions: still without clarity
Issue 9-10 (December 2017)
1. Mobile wallets at the POS: success is not a foregone conclusion
2. E-Loyalty Currency: A Regulatory Gap
3. Threatened anonymity of internet payments: 5AMLD updated
Issue 8 (December 2017)
1. ECB publishes study on the use of cash
2. Application selection at the POS: A field test
Issue 6-7 (November 2017)
1. Exemptions from Strong Customer Authentication
2. Cash & Cards: Insights from the new ECB payment statistics
Issue 5 (August 2017)
1. Fuel cards and PSD2: There is more than meets the eye
2. Last and least: Payment experience in Prague
Issue 3-4 (July 2017)
1. The Interchange Fee Regulation and the Greek way to tigger a less-cash society
2. Ec cash: Fake news from Germany?
3. Last and least: Payment experience in Prague
Issue 2 (March 2017)
1. A new payment scheme in Switzerland – hype or hope?
2. The PSD2, the ECB, the EBA and the application of SCA to POS transactions
Issue 1 (February 2017):
1. Walltes are all the rage: But what is a wallet?
2. The inconsistency of card-related ECB-stastistics
December 2016 issue:
1. EU Regulators Must Deliver on Credit Transfer Consumer Redress
2. “Still crazy after all these years”
December 2016 issue:
1. UK card fraud increases
2. India: De-Monetisation or Demon-Etisation?
3. Nets: Successful IPO and set-back in mobile payments
November 2016 issue:
1. 5AMLD: The end of anonymous online payments
October 2016 issue:
1. The EBA’s Regulatory Technical Standards: Regulation gone astray
August 2016 issue:
1. France: War of the Card Schemes
2. JCB technology for Danish Debit Card Scheme
June 2016 issue:
1. Brexit: Possible Impacts on UK Consumer Payments
2. Internet Payments in Germany: Diversity is king
3. MasterCard said to be bidding for VocaLink
4. The mysterious third party card issuer in the PSD2
April 2016 issue:
1. Implementing application selection at the POS
2. Nets‘ Annual Report 2015 full of great surprises
3. Missing harmonization of IFR regarding commercial card
February 2016 issue:
1. Recent trends in Italian card payments
2. The EBA’s Discussion Paper on „Regulatory Technical Standards“
3. Swish – Sweden’s blueprint for a European real-time P2P system?
December 2015 issue:
1. PSD2 requires harmonized and technology-neutra interpretation of definitions
2. Square’s debut on the stock exchange
3. First Russian National Card Scheme launched
4. Amex UK is subject to the interchange fee caps
November 2015 issue:
1. IF-Regulation & American Express: In or Out?
2. Trial against Cash
3. Varoufakis´ plan for a new payment scheme
September 2015 issue:
1. SEPA for Cards: Completed or not? An inventory
2. Apple Pay: Difficulties outside the US
3. Fraud with Australian NFC cards alarms regulators
July 2015 issue:
1. Fourth ECB report on card fraud published
2. German discounters are accepting credit cards
3. Lessons learned from the Greek tragedy
June 2015 issue:
1. IF Regulation and the Practice of Double Counting
2. Visa Europe for Sale: The End of a Vision?
3. Brexit: The Winners are moving companies and lawyers
April 2015 issue:
1. EU Commission publishes final report on cash- and card-costs
2. ECB card payment statistics: The missing 792 billions Euro
January 2015 issue:
1. IF regulation: Is it the end or just a beginning?
2. Who are the new kids on the regulatory PSD II-block?
November/December issue:
1. Presidency reaches compromise on PSD 2
October 2014 issue:
1. Presidency on interchange fee regulation: version 2
2. PSD II: A new definition of „acquiring
September 2014 issue:
1. Apple PAY: another chapter of the m-payment saga
2. Amazon’s interpretation of „e-money“
July/August 2014 issue:
1. PSD 2 and the battle over access to payment accounts
2. Domestic card schemes: the ghosts that haunt SEPA for Cards
3. Presidency draft compromise on regulation of interchange fees
June 2014 issue:
1. More on the ECB’s card report
2. Host Card Emulation (HCE): Coming soon to your door?
May 2014 issue:
1. Regulatory IF reduction in Poland 2014 and the tourist test application
2. The Euro Retail Payments Board: start and outlook
April 2014 issue:
1. ECB demands a renewed focus on cards
2. Russian Lessons for „SEPA for Cards“
3. Does the ECB propose a new e-money definition?
March 2014 issue:
1. ECB Secure Pay Recommendations for the Security of Internet Payments. The clock is ticking.
2. More on the proposed interchange regulation
3. The mystery of non-regulated „massive payment volumes“ in Europe
February 2014 issue:
1. Results of the Payment Costs study of the EU Commission
2. MasterCard’s legal interchange battles likely to continue
January 2014 issue:
1. Will the PSD II pave the way for EURO-ELV?
2. PSD II: Baseless extension of regulation – the missing case for the inclusion of „limited networks“
Letters to the editor
December 2013 issue:
1. IF-Regulation – comments of the EP committees
2. IF-Caps: Retailer benefits of 6 billion € per year?
November 2013 issue:
1. SecuRe Pay: Be SuRe to hear more of it
2. Card Payments in the Netherlands: No innovation anymore?
3. Scope of the proposed IF-Regulation: Which scheme is in and which is out?
September/October 2013 issue:
1. The proposed regulation of business rules
2. More on the proposed interchage regulation
3. Meanwhile in the US
August 2013 issue:
1. The proposed Regulation on Interchange Fees
2. New Study of the Social Costs of Cash and Cards in Germany
July 2013 issue:
1. The expected PSD II
2. The ECB on e-money and virtual currencies: Does the regulator know the regulations?
3. German Competition Authority favours bilateral negotiations on card fees
June 2013 issue:
1. Visa Europe proposes reduced interchange
2. New cost study: New Interchange caps for debit and credit cards?
3. SEPA-compliant or SCF-compliant: to be or not to be (follow-up)
April/Mai 2013 issue:
1. New regulatory initiatives from the European Commission
2. Rumours about Visa Europe
3. China’s UnionPay: WTO demands a change of rules
March 2013 issue:
1. UK government plans new payment regulator
2. SEPA-compliant or SCF-compliant: to be or not to be?
3. Another European e-purse scheme is shut down
February 2013 issue:
1. Intra-EU x-border eCommerce: Another „SEPA success story“?
2. The success of the „m-terminal“
3. EU payment regulation: What comes next?
January 2013 issue:
1. European acquiring: Do the banks sell out?
2. Australian debit: Reversal of interchange
3. Effects to consumer prices of mandatory decrease of interchange fees in Spain
December 2012 issue:
1. EuroCommerce on the basic payment application
2. New study on the effects of mandatory decrease of interchange fees in Spain
November 2012 issue:
1. European Parliament passes payment resolution
October 2012 issue:
1. Green Paper Follow Up: The EU Commission’s Road Map
2. Surcharging: News from Australia and the UK
3. giropay, eps and MyBank: Towards European e-payments?
4. Cost of payment studies: A sound basis for regulation?
September 2012 issue:
1. The wonderful world of anti-money-laundering regulation
2. Green Paper: EU Parliament preparing an opinion
3. Is the ECB the originator of the idea of a Basic Payment Application (BPA)?
July/August 2012 issue:
1. NETS to acquire Finnish payment giant Luottokunta
2. The Basic Payment Application (BPA) requires a basic discussion
3. eCommerce platforms and the PSD
4. Yet another faltering m-payment co-operation
June 2012 issue:
1. EU internet payments: eps/giropay/iDeal cooperation stalls
2. ePurses in Europe: another scheme in decline
3. SEPA-boost for x-border card payments?
May 2012 issue:
1. Italian government restricts cash payments
2. Restrictions on cash usage in some other countries
3. EU court rules against MasterCard
4. Thumbs down for Monnet
März/April 2012 issue:
1. Interoperability in the world of cards?
2. M-payments: Head: you win; tail: I lose
3. Canadian Task Force for the Payments System Review
February 2012 issue:
1. A note to our readers
2. Italian government wants to reduce MSCs
3. ELV: A life in SEPA?
4. UK government wants to restrict surcharging
January 2012 issue:
EU Commission publishes Green Paper on Payments
December 2011 issue:
1. In search of a European e-money champion: And the winner is… Luxembourg?
2. Recent developments in the Italian debit card market
3. A „National Payment Council“ for Denmark
November 2011 issue:
1. In search of a European card scheme: And the winner is… EUFISERV!?
2. New Kid on the Block: the ECB’s Peter Praet on SEPA
3. E-commerce growth in Denmark is falling by 40 %
4. Regulation of debit card interchange fees in the US: The battle continues
September/October 2011 issue:
1. Surcharging partly allowed in Denmark
2. A question of governance
3. Regulation of debit card interchange fees in the US: A first casualty
4. DG Competition keeps pressure on banks
August 2011 issue:
1. Co-badging woes: Visa versus CUP and BC Card
2. The evolving regulation of co-badging in the USA and the EU
3. M-Payments: the acquiring side
June/July 2011 issue:
1. French Anti-trust Authority decision on MIF
2. Fed issues final interchange rules for debit cards
3. Surcharging rules included in Consumer Protection Directive
4. EBA Clearing plans move into internet payments
May 2011 issue:
1. The 4-yrs-pregnancy of Monnet will come to an end
2. Cartes Bancaires proposes lower interchange fees
3. „Super-complaint“ against surcharching in the UK
4. „IBAN the terrible“: German politicians critical of SEPA
5. ECB and OeNB payment conference
April 2011 issue:
1. ECB comments on end-date proposal
2. German banking and business associations comment on end-date regulation
3. „Overlay systems“: the view of German anti-trust authorities
4. Proposed German AML rule threaten to kill anonymous prepaid
March 2011 issue:
1. Payment visions of the Dutch competition authority NMa
2. Direct charging of cardholders for cross-border ATM withdrawals
3. The number of Payment Institutions expands
February 2011 issue:
1. SEPA Cards Framework: SEPA-MIF vs. domestic MIF
2. EPC critique of proposed end-date regulation
3. Italian anti-trust watchdog fines MasterCard and eight Italian banks
4. Belgian debit card scheme will become SEPA-compliant
January 2011 issue:
1. Proposed debit card regulation in the U.S.
2. Estimating payment costs
3. French banks oppose proposed end-date regulation
December 2010 issue:
1. Developments in SEPA Standardisation Efforts
2. EU Commission Proposal for an End-date Regulation
November 2010 issue:
1. Unbundled Pricing of Merchant Service Charge
2. The ECB’s 7th SEPA Progress Report
– SEPA migration end date
– An additional European card scheme and the role of interchange
– Payment card security
October 2010 issue:
1. Italian Antitrust Authority reduces Multilateral Interbank Fees
2. The ECB’s 7th SEPA Progress Report
3. To Compete or not to Compete – the „Scheme“ as the Hamlet of the SEPA Drama
4. EU Commission Schedules Hearing on Migration End-date
September 2010 issue:
1. Canadian regulation of payment card networks
2. German savings banks want to go ahead with ec cash 2.0
3. Surcharging criticized by UK consumer body
4. A conflict in Brussels that may delay end-date regulation?
August 2010 issue:
Special topic: Setting an end-date: the discussion continues
June/July 2010 issue:
1. Card regulation in the U.S.
2. SEPA and other issues at payments conference in Granada
3. German anti-trust authority opposes proposed ATM interchange
4. Application selection in Australia
April/May 2010 issue:
1. A SEPA strategy for ec cash/girocard
2. Visa lowers its EU x-border debit card interchange to 0.2 %
3. Setting an end-date: the EU Commission vs. the EPC
4. Monnet Symposium in Madrid
March 2010 issue:
1. Three-Party Systems in the SCF: Correction and Extension
2. EU Parliament and EU Commission Pressing for an End Date
3. The Bankruptcy of E-Clear
4. Payment Institutions in the EU
February 2010 issue:
1. Three-Party Systems in the SCF
2. Principles for Interchange Fees in the SCF
3. New European Card Schemes: Round Table of Candidates at Frankfurt Conference
4. Anti-trust Issues in the Canadian Card Market
January 2010 issue:
1. SCF 2.1: A new version of the SEPA Cards Framework
2. Atos, SIA-SSB and the meaning of SEPA
3. The „market road“ to SEPA: A small example
4. Kroes‘ farewell gift for Visa
December 2009 issue:
1. Will PSD bring deferred settlements by merchant acquirer to an end? (by Dr. Richard Reimer)
2. PayFair moves ahead
3. Setting end-dates: An opinion from the Council of Ministers
4. Surcharging: Ryanair loses in German court
November 2009 issue:
1. The end of the Dutch PIN system
2. Application selection at the POS: Merchant options
3. US report on interchange fees
4. An extra charge for the payment guarantee?
October 2009 issue:
1. Consultation on migration end-date
2. Interchange: Decision in Hungary
3. Interchange: Decision in New Zealand
4. Monnet: A new run-up?
August/September 2009 issue:
1. Interchange in Holland: Clarification and extension
2. EAPS: Connecting German and Italian ATM networks
3. Self assessment of card schemes: „We are all SEPA compliant“
4. The ECB keeps up the pressure on banks
July 2009 issue:
1. The thorny issue of separation of scheme and processing
2. Interchange in Holland: multilateral or bilateral?
3. The EU interchange decision: Suisse ripples
4. German parliament against end date for national direct debits
June 2009 issue:
1. Access to payment schemes: An opinion from the ECB
2. What the hell is a „tourist test“?
3. Germany allows no-surcharging rules
4. EuroCommerce lodges complaint against Visa
May 2009 issue:
1. Dutch Debit Card Agreement
2. Waiting for the third card scheme
3. CUP: New kid on the block
4. New E-Money Directive adopted by European Parliament
April 2009 issue:
1. Competition between debit cards schemes in Belgium (by Robert Wastyn)
2. EU finds (temporary) compromise with MasterCard
3. Visa Europe: Unwelcome letter from Brussels
4. French banks delay SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) by one year
February/March 2009 issue:
1. Belgian banks plan to shut down national Clearing & Settlement in 2011: Implications for
debit cards
2. Finnish debit cards go international – or do they?
3. MasterCard believed to bid for Italian processor SIA-SSB
4. German card market in decline?
5. Cash – a product in decline?
January 2009 issue:
1. Proposed regulation of the Australian ATM scheme
2. Dutch retailers‘ vision of application selection
3. A court decision in favour of MasterCard
4. The „payment account“: guidance from the EU commission
5. Costs of data breaches: Figures from the U.S.
November/December 2008 issue:
1. The ECB’s 6th SEPA Progress Report
2. The meaning of „cross-border“: A clarification of the ECB
3. SEPA headache of French banks
4. The SEPA vision of the Dutch competition authority
5. PSD implementation far away from full harmonisation: surcharging, payment accounts,….
October 2008 issue:
1. E-Money Directive II
2. Account-based payment services: credit institution, payment institution or e-money-
institution?
3. PSD implementation: German government takes a restricitve view
4. Spain: Servired and 4B join processing forces
5. European retailers criticise MasterCard’s new acquirer fees
September 2008 issue:
1. Deutsche Bank makes the case for Monnet
2. The proposed SDD interchange fee and the meaning of „x-border“ in SEPA
3. The proposed SDD interchange fee: Incentive for or against SDD use?
August 2008 issue:
1. EU Comm and ECB support temporary debit interchange
2. The 25th anniversary of the Dancard-scheme
3. SEPA for Cards: A view from Spain
July 2008 issue:
1. ATM business in the PSD
2. Access to payment schemes
3. Surcharging in the PSD
June 2008 issue:
1. No agreement on application selection
2. Dutch PIN system declares itself SEPA-compliant
3. First Data acquires stake in Eufiserv
4. The SEPA end-game
May 2008 issue:
1. End of no-surcharge rules?
2. Visa Europe is pushing cash-back
3. German conflict over direct debit
March/April 2008 issue:
1. EuroCommerce versus EPC
2. ING and Postbank offer Maestro and V PAY acceptance in the Netherlands
3. Security breach hits PCI certified retailer
February 2008 issue:
1. Cash-back in SEPA
2. Brand selection at the POS: A first conflict
3. EAPS – V PAY Co-badging
January 2008 issue:
1. SEPA for Cards: Next stop Falkenstein?
2. SEPA for Cards: Time to pay fair?
3. VAT treatment of financial services in the EU
November/December 2007 issue:
1. The European Commission’s decision on MasterCard MIF
2. EC rules out CB’s MERFA
3. Neelie Kroes (DG Competition) on SEPA for Cards
October 2007 issue:
1. ECB Concerned about SEPA for Cards
2. MIF and the Role of DG Competition
3. Gross or Net Settlement: Banks versus Retailers
September 2007 issue:
1. Co-badging issues yet again
2. The New European Debit Card Scheme
3. War on Cash
August 2007 issue:
1. Interchange in Singapore: A Blueprint for SEPA?
2. SEPA for Cards: So far mainly „Wait and see“
3. The ECB’s new „Impact Study“
4. MasterCards stops plan to introduce ad valorem debit fee in UK
July 2007 issue:
1. Domestic Interchange Rates in SEPA: Room for Doubt
2. The Eurosystem’s 5th SEPA Progress Report
June 2007 issue:
1. SEPA: How many cooks?
2. Three-party systems in SEPA
3. ePurses in SEPA
May 2007 issue:
1. National SEPA interchange rates?
2. Co-badging issues
3. ECB: Oversight Framework for Card Payment Schemes
March-April 2007 issue:
1. Payment Services Directive (PSD)
2. Capital requirements of the PSD
3. Maestro: Set-Back in Belgium
February 2007 issue:
1. Final Report of the Sector Inquiry
2. EAPS Interscheme Fee
3. Swiss ATM Interchange
January 2007 issue:
1. BKM (Turkey) joins Berlin-Group
2. German cooperative banks sign V Pay agreement
3. Update: Payment Services Directive (PSD)
4. Decision on Interchange Fees in Poland
December 2006 issue:
1. MasterCard publishes SEPA interchange fees for Maestro
2. German Sparda Banks will issue Maestro cards
3. Dutch SEPA ‘Polder-Model’ for Debit Cards
November 2006 issue:
1. ECB: EFMA-speech on a SEPA for Cards and interchange fees
2. Dutch SEPA “Polder-Model” for Debit Cards
3. Visa goes public