“Mir” became the subject of trade – Newspaper Kommersant No. 215 (7416) dated 11/21/2022

The payment system (PS) “Mir” is embarking on the reform of interbank commissions, planning a significant reduction in them for food retail and catering enterprises. The size of similar commissions for cards of international payment systems (IPS) does not change, which can lead to a significant gap in the loyalty programs of banks for Mir cards and MPS cards in favor of the latter. Moreover, experts suggest that Mir’s new strategy may change the very approach to stimulating customers – not through cashback, but through discounts at retail outlets.

Kommersant’s sources in the financial market said that the National Payment Card System (NSPK) has begun a reform of the approach to determining the interbank commission when paying with cards (interchange). NSPK Kommersant confirmed this information: a set of industry and special programs has been developed for a large number of enterprises in the field of catering and food retail with a number of reduced rates that are uniform within these industries (up to 0.5%), some of which have already entered into force . The special program began to operate from November 10.

According to the CardReview Telegram channel, NSPK has also announced new changes in the interchange on Mir cards from January 1. For MCC-codes 5811-5814 when buying up to 1 thousand rubles. the commission will be 0.5%, and over 1 thousand rubles – 1.65% (5811 – caterers, catering stores; 5812 – restaurants; 5813 – bars, nightclubs; 5814 – fast food). Thus, according to the authors of the channel, “the problem of false fast food miscoding has been elegantly solved” through the amount of the check, and not through compliance with formal criteria: waiters, disposable tableware, and so on. In addition, from January 1, it is planned to introduce an interchange in the amount of 1.4% not only for the MCC code 5411 (supermarket), but also for highly specialized stores, for which it previously depended on the type of card, reaching the level of 2.35%.

According to a Kommersant source in the payment market, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, has repeatedly spoken about the need to reduce the costs of trade and service enterprises (TSP), including with the help of acquiring commissions. According to the interlocutor of Kommersant, the current trend towards a decrease in interchange can be directed precisely at this. The NSPK itself clarified: “In the event that the changes introduced by the Mir PS may affect the contractual relations of the acquiring bank and the trade and service company in terms of the size of the trade concession, the changes will be introduced gradually to give acquirers the opportunity to bring the terms of cooperation with the merchant into compliance with innovations.

According to Dmitry Vishnyakov, an independent expert on the payment card market, NSPK’s steps are aimed at increasing the number of merchants that accept its cards. “The more varied rates, the more targeted the acquiring bank can offer its services,” he explains. At the same time, according to the expert, in the long term, this will lead to an increase in the volume of payments using Mir cards.

The decrease in interchange applies only to Mir cards, which, according to market participants, still account for less than half of all payment cards in the Russian Federation. For cards of international payment systems, the commission remains unchanged (in Russia, transactions on them also go through the NSPK).

As a result, according to experts, already now some banks give cashback on MPS cards higher than on Mir cards. Roman Prokhorov, head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association, believes that it is necessary to carry out a similar reduction in tariffs for cards of international systems in order to avoid arbitration. At the same time, he is confident that the reduction in commissions will have an impact on the loyalty programs of banks, which are already going through hard times.

At the same time, this will stimulate the development of their own loyalty programs on the part of TSP.G, the head of the Association of Electronic Money and Money Transfer Market Participants, Viktor Dostov, suggested that the result of lowering tariffs could be a change in the very approach to promoting Mir cards: instead of banks, preferences will be given to their holders. TSP.

Maxim Buylov