Review of the Payment Services Directive: The question of surcharges

The Payment Services Directive was intended to provide more price transparency for users and a level playing field for efficient competition among different payment services by decreasing the inhibiting effects of different legislation, cross-subsidisation and non-cost-based pricing. The European Commission, however, intended most of these effects to come about through market-led initiatives. In the run-up to the review of the Directive, Elina Pyykkö asks in this ECRI Policy Brief whether more could not be done to promote the use of efficient payment methods.
Elina Pyykkö is a Researcher at the European Credit Research Institute within CEPS in Brussels.