UK High Court upholds PSR power to cap Visa/Mastercard cross-border interchange

In a judgment handed down in mid-January 2026, the High Court dismissed judicial-review challenges brought by Mastercard, Visa and Revolut, confirming the Payment Systems Regulator's power under section 54 of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 to impose price caps on cross-border interchange fees. The PSR had found that post-Brexit increases (debit from 0.2% to 1.15%, credit from 0.3% to 1.5%) on UK-EEA card-not-present transactions cost UK businesses an estimated £150-200 million a year.

Cross-border interchange is a core scheme/issuer revenue line; legal confirmation of the PSR's capping power pressures card economics for UK merchants and strengthens the cost case for pay-by-bank/A2A alternatives in the UK.

The PSR's final cap level and timing, any appeal, scheme/issuer pricing responses, and whether lower card costs slow or accelerate open-banking adoption.

• matrixlaw.co.uk
• Payment Systems Regulator