At the and of the last year the WEKO decided to lower the interchange fee for credit cards (MasterCard & Visa) from 0.95% to 0.44%. This means that there are no differences between the fees of all payment methods. This should happen during two years (until 2017). The lowering of the interchange fee affects only the Swiss interior fee. This measure should relieve the cashless commerce with CHF 50–60 Mio. per year. Excluded are debit cards, because they don’t work with interchange fees.

The WEKO clarifies in its ordinance (http://www.weko.admin.ch/index.html?lang=de&download=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NT...)
that because of the new regulation of the interchange fee according to European example the percept of the price differentiation will be implemented again. This means, the acquirer is able to dictate that a merchant can’t account fees for a credit card transaction. It will show if these prohibitions, which were implemented by the card organizations, are obeyed by the merchants.

For customers the lower fees can offer advantages, even if the prices in the web shops will be adjusted by the merchants due to the prohibitions.