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Every country should have this. Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? It perhaps made sense when the technology was difficult, and

Every country should have this. Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? It perhaps made sense when the technology was difficult, and America was trusted, but ...

hvb2 5mo ago
I misunderstood, psd2 is Europe's equivalent. And yes, every country should have this. Even America
- Daedren 5mo ago
  PSD2 is merely a framework for an uniform access to banking, same APIs everywhere. While you can send money through it, it's still through the same means as normal. Many of the european countries have their own "Pix", but there's no European-wide alternative. The ECB wants to make one (tentatively titled "digital euro"), but it's going to take a long time to come out.
  - pcardoso 5mo ago
    There are plans for interoperability between the various European payment apps. My local app (MB Way, PT) can be used to send money to Spain and Italy. Others will follow. https://www.mbway.pt/a-interoperabilidade-e-o-futuro-dos-pagamentos-transferencia-internacional-agora-ja-e-possivel-com-mb-way/ https://www.mbway.pt/a-interoperabilidade-e-o-futuro-dos-pag... (link in portuguese)
    - Daedren 5mo ago
      Yes but this is merely an abstraction of SEPA Instant transfers to not have to write an IBAN when sending money. The issue to solve is payments, Portugal for instance has its Multibanco payment scheme, but it's only used in Portugal. I assume eventually it'll be cobranded with Wero like it happened to Netherlands' iDEAL and eventually fully replaced.
  - boudin 5mo ago
    Wero is the alternative, it's moving on quite well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment)
KK7NIL 5mo ago
> Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? I don't think VISA/Mastercard takes such a fee? (They'd be some of the biggest companies in the world if they did.) The fees they charge are actually fractions of a percent, the rest are charged by the card issuer, which is usually your bank. You could, in theory, use the VISA network and not pay those fees to a card issuer.
- surgical_fire 5mo ago
  Still greater than 0. There's absolutely no reason for a country to outsource paynent infrastructure to US corporations.
- cyberax 5mo ago
  > You could, in theory, use the VISA network and not pay those fees to a card issuer. You can not. The only way is to have a private agreement with the card issuer. That's why stores all try to push their co-branded cards.
ExpertAdvisor01 5mo ago
It's interesting that we live in 2026 and people still don't understand the fees of credit card processing. Visa charges only a Assessment fee the majority goes to Issuer Bank +PSP. E.g: Interchange fee (0.8-1.8%): Paid by acquirer to issuer (card-holding bank) Assessment fee (0.1-0.3%): Paid to card network (Visa, Mastercard) Acquirer margin (0.3-0.8%): Retained by merchant’s payment processor
- guntars 5mo ago
  The banks and the payment processors are the real customers of the payment networks and they all do better when they can squeeze more money from the end users - the cardholders and the businesses. Pix cuts out these middlemen and that’s an existential threat to their business model, ergo an “investigation” by the Trump admin.
- Scaled 5mo ago
  The army of middlemen with their hands out is the worst part, where you also have fees paid to the merchant bank, the iso/payment service provider, and a chain of agents. In disfavored industries like adult content, this can reach 15% or more, plus thousands in annual "high risk" fees (even if chargeback rate is good). It's a huge anticompetitive racket, and the sooner US can shake off Visa/MasterCard, the better off we'll be.
- varispeed 5mo ago
  All should be free. Imagine if government decided to impose 3% revenue tax, yet these companies get a free pass. If these networks cannot run this for free, then they should be nationalised and tax payer should cover it. It will be cheaper (because it will become non-profit) for everyone and better.
  - laurencerowe 5mo ago
    Cash handling also costs businesses money so I'm not sure it needs to be free, just strictly regulated.
    - 5mo ago
gib444 5mo ago
> Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? And spy on every single transaction
expedition32 5mo ago
It made sense back in the 1970s when it was hard for an American to pay for a hotel room in Manilla. But in 2026 data moves in a micro second from one continent to another.
dyauspitr 5mo ago
Exactly and if you think 2-3% is a small number you should keep in mind that that is effectively half of what the market returns over the long-term at 7%.
usrnm 5mo ago
> Every country should have this Many countries do, it's really more common than you might think. The problem is international payments and things like tourism. Want to order something from another country? Want to go there for a week and not have to use cash? In most cases it's either Visa or MasterCard.

Every country should have this. Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? It perhaps made sense when the technology was difficult, and America was trusted, but ...

hvb2 5mo ago

I misunderstood, psd2 is Europe's equivalent. And yes, every country should have this. Even America

Daedren 5mo ago
PSD2 is merely a framework for an uniform access to banking, same APIs everywhere. While you can send money through it, it's still through the same means as normal. Many of the european countries have their own "Pix", but there's no European-wide alternative. The ECB wants to make one (tentatively titled "digital euro"), but it's going to take a long time to come out.
- pcardoso 5mo ago
  There are plans for interoperability between the various European payment apps. My local app (MB Way, PT) can be used to send money to Spain and Italy. Others will follow. https://www.mbway.pt/a-interoperabilidade-e-o-futuro-dos-pagamentos-transferencia-internacional-agora-ja-e-possivel-com-mb-way/ https://www.mbway.pt/a-interoperabilidade-e-o-futuro-dos-pag... (link in portuguese)
  - Daedren 5mo ago
    Yes but this is merely an abstraction of SEPA Instant transfers to not have to write an IBAN when sending money. The issue to solve is payments, Portugal for instance has its Multibanco payment scheme, but it's only used in Portugal. I assume eventually it'll be cobranded with Wero like it happened to Netherlands' iDEAL and eventually fully replaced.
- boudin 5mo ago
  Wero is the alternative, it's moving on quite well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wero_(payment)

KK7NIL 5mo ago

> Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? I don't think VISA/Mastercard takes such a fee? (They'd be some of the biggest companies in the world if they did.) The fees they charge are actually fractions of a percent, the rest are charged by the card issuer, which is usually your bank. You could, in theory, use the VISA network and not pay those fees to a card issuer.

surgical_fire 5mo ago
Still greater than 0. There's absolutely no reason for a country to outsource paynent infrastructure to US corporations.
cyberax 5mo ago
> You could, in theory, use the VISA network and not pay those fees to a card issuer. You can not. The only way is to have a private agreement with the card issuer. That's why stores all try to push their co-branded cards.

ExpertAdvisor01 5mo ago

It's interesting that we live in 2026 and people still don't understand the fees of credit card processing. Visa charges only a Assessment fee the majority goes to Issuer Bank +PSP. E.g: Interchange fee (0.8-1.8%): Paid by acquirer to issuer (card-holding bank) Assessment fee (0.1-0.3%): Paid to card network (Visa, Mastercard) Acquirer margin (0.3-0.8%): Retained by merchant’s payment processor

guntars 5mo ago
The banks and the payment processors are the real customers of the payment networks and they all do better when they can squeeze more money from the end users - the cardholders and the businesses. Pix cuts out these middlemen and that’s an existential threat to their business model, ergo an “investigation” by the Trump admin.
Scaled 5mo ago
The army of middlemen with their hands out is the worst part, where you also have fees paid to the merchant bank, the iso/payment service provider, and a chain of agents. In disfavored industries like adult content, this can reach 15% or more, plus thousands in annual "high risk" fees (even if chargeback rate is good). It's a huge anticompetitive racket, and the sooner US can shake off Visa/MasterCard, the better off we'll be.
varispeed 5mo ago
All should be free. Imagine if government decided to impose 3% revenue tax, yet these companies get a free pass. If these networks cannot run this for free, then they should be nationalised and tax payer should cover it. It will be cheaper (because it will become non-profit) for everyone and better.
- laurencerowe 5mo ago
  Cash handling also costs businesses money so I'm not sure it needs to be free, just strictly regulated.
  - 5mo ago

gib444 5mo ago

> Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? And spy on every single transaction

expedition32 5mo ago

It made sense back in the 1970s when it was hard for an American to pay for a hotel room in Manilla. But in 2026 data moves in a micro second from one continent to another.

dyauspitr 5mo ago

Exactly and if you think 2-3% is a small number you should keep in mind that that is effectively half of what the market returns over the long-term at 7%.

usrnm 5mo ago

> Every country should have this Many countries do, it's really more common than you might think. The problem is international payments and things like tourism. Want to order something from another country? Want to go there for a week and not have to use cash? In most cases it's either Visa or MasterCard.