In January this year, the Payment Servicers Regulator (PSR) consulted on a package of remedies to help businesses, and therefore also consumers, get the best deal possible. 

The regulator says that card-acquiring services are critical to the UK economy. Every time somebody makes a card payment – for example, when buying groceries or lunch – the business uses card-acquiring services to accept the payment. 

A number of concerns were identified in the card-acquiring market review, such as a lack of transparency, over-pricing and lengthy contracts for the leasing of POS terminal card readers.  PSR now aims to tackle these concerns, allowing businesses to shop around and make informed choices.: ”This will in turn see businesses getting a better deal, reducing their costs and seeing them receive a higher level of service.”    

The final decision sets out what PSR expects providers to now do to remedy the harms identified in the market review, for example:

• Summary boxes containing bespoke key price and non-price information to be sent individually to each business and shown prominently in their online account.  
• A maximum duration of 18 months for Point of Sale (POS) terminal lease and rental contracts with a rolling monthly contract to prevent businesses being locked into lengthy contracts. 

The details of the final decision can be read here.