EU asks why credit cards are so expensive - Reckons industry could save €300bn in six years
The European Commission is asking for input on better ways to integrate electronic payments across the European Community, and whether today's opaque billing mechanisms can be allowed to continue.
The consultation – which talks about card payments but is most concerned with a future where e-payments and m-payments continue to surge – asks for feedback on how to encourage payment companies to reduce their rates while increasing the security of payments and making it easier to use next-generation payment systems around the EU.
The Green Paper (PDF, hard going but there's an idiots' guide too) asks some specific questions about the whole process. Those include why the cost of paying by card hasn't dropped in the last decade, despite the volume of such transactions scaling up massively. The EC also wants to know why some cards, such as certain debit cards, don't work in every shop in Europe, and if that matters.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/19/ec_payments_consultation/
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