Edgar, Dunn & Company (EDC) undertook an independent study analysing the impact of the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR). The objective was to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the impact of the IFR by comparing baseline data collected before and after the IFR came into force.Some of the key conclusions of the assessment were the following:

• Although IFR led to lower interchange fees and card acquirers had to pay less to card issuers, consumers paid more for their cards
• Large merchants benefited from the lower interchange fees, however smaller businesses did not benefit from the reductions to the same extent
• Where merchants received a lower MSC as a result of capped interchange rates, there is no available evidence of whether merchant to consumer pass through took place

The study was commissioned by Mastercard and provides a detailed analysis of the retail card payment market from pre-IFR to post-IFR in seven countries, namely, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The quantitative results of the analysis were extrapolated to the EU28 level.The full report and the executive summary are available to download. ‍