UK Issuers face New Regulatory Requirements on Cross-Border Card Spend

Following a period of uncertainty, the UK government has confirmed adoption of the EU Cross Border Payments Regulations (CBPR2 or EU2019/518) post Brexit for all requirements in effect as of the 31st December 2020.

CBPR2: UK Issuer Requirements

The CBPR2 creates a common approach to pricing transparency for all EEA & UK foreign currency card transactions, with all fees, commissions and exchange rate premiums consolidated into a single currency conversion cost that is compared to the ECB reference rate, dynamically each day.

For UK payment card issuers, CBPR2 requires that the daily, variable currency conversion costs (which includes card scheme FX margin as well as any issuer mark-up) for each card programme be presented on a publicly available website (e.g. https://alphabank.cambrist.eu/en).

The original CBPR2 deadline for webpage compliance was 19th April 2020.  However, the FCA recently noted some flexibility regarding the deadline due to both Brexit uncertainty and Covid-19 implications.  However, as the pandemic recedes and post-Brexit business becomes the new normal, the FCA is unlikely to remain flexible for long.

Simplify your Bank’s Path to Compliance with Cambrist’s Notify

Cambrist provides a low-cost, fully managed CBPR2 compliance product line (Notify).  Cambrist’s Notify offers a range of service options for card issuers of all sizes, ranging from a simple FX rates API (one API for all required Visa, Mastercard and ECB currency rates) to a complete, end-to-end CBPR2 webpage design, development and management services.  Our platform offers a flexible approach to compliance, enabling our card issuer partners to select the components that are suitable to their individual requirements. Contact us at info@cambrist.com for more information or visit our website www.cambrist.com.