Interchange fee regulation
We monitor and regulate interchange fees charged on the Mastercard and Visa debit and credit networks to promote a competitive and efficient payment system.
Interchange fees are one of the costs that contribute to the Merchant Service Fees that businesses pay to accept Mastercard and Visa payments. In 2024 interchange fees made up 60% of Merchant Service Fees.
Although interchange fees were initially capped when the Retail Payment System Act 2022 was first introduced, we were concerned that the interchange fees that New Zealand businesses were paying were too high compared to similar countries.
Interchange fees on personal credit and debit cards
On 17 July 2025, we made the decision to introduce a new pricing standard that further regulates interchange fees on personal payments made through the Mastercard and Visa credit and debit networks.
This pricing standard is estimated to save New Zealand businesses $260 million in interchange fees annually compared to pre-regulation fees.
Our decision on the new pricing standard considered feedback we received on a draft decision published on 18 December 2024.
The revised interchange fee limits are effective from 1 December 2025 for domestically-issued cards and 1 May 2026 for foreign-issued cards.
Interchange fees on commercial/corporate credit cards
On 22 October 2026, we published our decision to regulate commercial credit card interchange fees on the Mastercard and Visa networks.
The amended interchange fee network standard introduces interchange fee limits for commercial credit card transactions and is expected to reduce the fees paid by businesses when accepting commercial credit cards.
Our decision considered feedback received on the draft decision published on 4 June 2026 and is accompanied by our reasons paper.
The revised commercial credit card interchange fee limits will come into effect on 22 April 2027, following a six-month implementation period.