Following the decision of the European Commission of 19th December 2007 ordering MasterCard to withdraw the interchange charges they impose through the local banks on retailers who accept payments by customers on MasterCard Credit Cards, MasterCard has declared that it will comply with the European Commission decision of 19th December 2007 and completely withdraw its cross-border interchange fees as of 21st June 2008.
Local banks have decided to keep this saving in their credit card fees they pay to MasterCard and keep the "commission" charge to retailers in Malta as before. Clearly, the European Commission decision was intended to increase the profit local banks make on every transaction by credit card but to reduce the final cost to retailers and reduce cross-border barriers to trade.
GRTU expects the Office of Fair Trading, the Malta Financial and Services Authority and the Ministry of Finance the Economy and Investment to intervene, as the two major local banks are abusing their dominant market position and acting collusively together, in a de facto cartel.
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The Malta Chamber of SMEs represents over 7,000 members from over 90 different sectors which in their majority are either small or medium sized companies, and such issues like the one we're experiencing right now, it's important to be united. Malta Chamber of SMEs offers a number of different services tailored to its members' individual requirements' and necessities. These range from general services offered to all members to more individual & bespoke services catered for specific requirements.
A membership with Malta Chamber of SMEs will guarantee that you are constantly updated and informed with different opportunities which will directly benefit your business and help you grow. It also entails you to a number of services which in their majority are free of charge and offered exclusively to its members (in their majority all free of charge).
