When regulation was introduced to cap card fees in Europe in December 2015, many expected AMEX fees to reduce to sensible levels as well. As fees for accepting Visa and Mastercard were slashed, even AMEX’s CEO conceded that it expected downward pressure on its discount rates.

Fast forward nearly four years and most merchants are still paying a premium of up to 10x to accept AMEX compared to other cards, with its global average discount rate around 2.5%.

AMEX will contest that its fees are not subject to regulation because it is a three-party scheme. However, a large part of AMEX’s business involves co-brand partners, and the ECJ recently ruled that transactions taken on such cards should be subject to regulation because they involve a third party licensee, making it a four-party scheme.

Furthermore, in some countries in Europe, such as Ireland, AMEX uses a local licensee as the acquirer, meaning that 100% of transactions in those countries should be subject to regulation. Yet, for most merchants, the discount rate hasn’t moved.

Regulators at a national and European level seem unable or, worse, unwilling, to take any action and so Bankhawk has been collecting intelligence for some time now. We already have the support of a number of leading European merchants. Will you join them and help reduce fees on AMEX?

Simply sign the form below to give your support and Bankhawk will do the rest. The petition will be presented to both national and European regulators along with our concerns and proposed remedies.