American Express announces a global move to lower merchant fees
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The Financial Times carried an article yesterday (paywall, or free if you google ‘Amex to woo retailers with biggest fee cut in 20 years’) in which the new American Express CEO talks of his plans to reduce merchant fees globally to encourage more retailers to take the card.
In Europe, of course, Amex has no choice but to reduce merchant fees on its co-brand cards following the recent European Court of Justice ruling.
The graph below, taken from the article, is fascinating (click to enlarge).
This shows, globally, that despite a long-term decline Amex still charges an average merchant fee of 2.37%.
This is heavily weighted by the US, which has merchant fees unheard of in Europe, but is interesting to see in the light of the 0.3% cap on interchange fees (which is the majority but not all of the merchant fee) now charged by Visa and Mastercard in Europe.
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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
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You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
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American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
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British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
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Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
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Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
American Express Business Platinum
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American Express Business Gold
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Capital on Tap Pro Visa
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