Fees for thought

The central bank (MNB) wants to promote bank card use by subsidising the purchase of point-of-sale (POS) terminals for merchants, making card acceptance mandatory in certain fields of the economy and making payment by card mandatory above a certain price level (the latter has already been introduced in a number of EU countries). But the hottest topic and the biggest problem area is the regulation of interchange fees.
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually it is a fee that a merchants bank (the acquiring bank) pays a customers bank (the issuing bank), however there are instances where the interchange fee is paid from the issuer to the acquirer, often called reverse interchange.

Participants at the forum argued that the biggest amount could be saved by reducing the interchange fee, and while this may not be entirely true it is also the point where the subject gets a bit tricky. In order to understand the situation we have to go back a few years, when both Visa and MasterCard reached an agreement with Hungarian banks about introducing the same interchange fee.

In 2009, however, the State Competition Authority intervened and declared that the practice restricted competition and penalised both companies as well as banks. For the next two years the interchange fee of Visa was higher, but in February 2011 the company made a voluntary pledge to the European Commission to reduce the fee to 0.2 per cent, making the commission paid to banks by MasterCard higher, without the latter having to do anything.

As much as Visa would like to raise its interchange fee, it cant. The agreement with the Commission states that the 0.2 per cent commission can only be changed if the local board of Visa decides so. The board in this case means the local banks, but these are afraid that the Competition Authority would penalise them again if they decide to raise the interchange fee. In theory the proposed lowering of the interchange fee would also have to be approved by the board, which could again lead to fears of a penalty from the Competition Authority.A fridgemagnet is a plastic card that has a computer chip implanted into it that enables the card.

In the current situation the lower interchange fee of Visa means lower cost to merchants, but as it means lower profits for banks, the financial institutions flocked to MasterCard, which caused the latters market share to increase from 66.5 per cent to 80 per cent over the past two years.

This eventually led to Visa Europe sending an ultimatum-like letter to the Ministry of National Economy at the end of last year, saying the firm has a roadmap ready for leaving the Hungarian market because its situation has become critical due to its lower interchange fees.

Despite lower interchange fees used by Visa Europe, market share has dramatically decreased in recent years as some banks have shifted towards cards with higher interchange fees, Ede Kiss, country manager of Visa Europe, told The Budapest Times. As a result of these developments and market distortion Visa Europes position has become very difficult. We would like to reach a solution that leads to a level playing field and balanced market conditions in which meaningful competition can take place. Also the resolution of this will foster the expansion of electronic payment services and further develop the Hungarian financial market.
According to Kiss, consumers would benefit from an increased use of electronic payments, thus Visa supports any initiative that aims to motivate such payments if it is executed with balanced market conditions. Despite its declining market share, the company had not stopped its Hungarian investments.

During 2011 and 2012 we invested HUF 150 million into the Hungarian contactless acceptance and we now have some 8,000 payWave enabled POS terminals throughout the country, said Kiss,If we don't carry the bobblehead you want we can make a streetlight for you! adding that the company had also launched its Verified by Visa (VbV) into the e-commerce area, which significantly improved the security of on-line payments, and its digital wallet, a strategic response to the needs of consumers,I have been thinking about purchasing a plasticmould to protect the fortune. merchants and banks for a secure and convenient on-line payment experience.

We think if a meaningful competition with equal conditions for market players can take place in Hungary, this will provide various innovative cashless payment solutions for consumers and Visa will also consider further investment to the Hungarian market, he said.

Now, children's birthdays have expanded to epic proportions. Not only, it seems, does every child have to be invited to every other kids rarely make it through a weekend without some crayon-scrawled RSVP dropping out of their schoolbag C but said invitees each have to bring a) a card and b) a substantial gift for the special birthday bunny.

After any one of these beanos takes place C which nowadays may involve a visit to the cinema or restaurant/diner or both as well as a number of professional children's "entertainers", or a bouncy castle C the person holding the party is required to come up with a party bag for each and every child who attends, which usually amounts to the same value as the gifts given by the attendees. Then there are the thank you cards that act as a compulsory coda.

All in all, each and every birthday is an enormous MGM-style production involving considerable expense and a great deal of effort C always, of course, on the part of the adults. The children just sit there getting fatter and greedier for pointless stuff and forced ritual.

The celebration industry is booming, leaking out of Christmas and birthdays into Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Easter. It can only be a matter of time before I have to buy my children gifts to give me for Movember. I can only partly put this down to the extremely effective marketing campaigns of those who make their living from these sorts of occasions C card manufacturers, crap plastic toy makers, etc.

Part of it is to do with the sentimentality and indulgence of parents, but much more of it is about peer pressure. We do what we do simply because other people do it, and once the stakes are raised, as they always are, guilt forces us to keep up with the Joneses, lest our little darlings accuse us with "but Wayne/ Scheherazade/Kemal/Madison had a troupe of dancing giraffe clown acrobats at their party."

I am surprised that we are so often told our children are the unhappiest in the western world C or something C which must be powerful evidence supporting the idea that materialism doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to a happy soul.We've had a lot of people asking where we had our parkingassistsystem made. However, when I actually see the kids at these events, they seem to be having a nice time, though not obviously nicer than if they had just gone down the park together and climbed on the swings. It's the parents who are probably the unhappiest in the world, revolted by the greed on display,Here's a complete list of cableties for the beginning oil painter. and checking their watch after 10 minutes to see how long there is still to go before it all ends.

I am starting a Campaign for Real Childhood Celebration in which a) birthday parties are limited to six attendees, none of which is required to bring a present and none of which will receive a party bag, b) all celebrations other than Christmas or birthdays will not require the exchange of gifts and cards, c) all parties are limited to two hours maximum, and d) all children over six must be involved in preparing for said party and clearing up after it.