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2021 could start with some nasty surprises for all credit or debit card holders: ATM Spa aims to reform the cash withdrawal service. However, before this happens, the Antitrust wants to see clearly and has opened an investigation against the consortium that manages the most widespread and well-known payment and withdrawal circuits in Italy.
What is it about
If the approval of the Authority arrives, the effects for savers could be a increase costs and uncertainty about the fees applied: to date, most banks offer free or low-cost withdrawals with the ATM at ATMs of other banking institutions: in some cases, the commission paid depends on the amount that was withdrawn and it is present only in small amounts.
All doubts
The reform bill that was presented establishes that your bank is no longer a repair contractually the cost of withdrawal but the institution that owns the ATM. As reported by the Sole 24 Mineral, Bancomat Spa would have justified the request by speaking of “efficiency of the service and more transparent remuneration to users“But in reality this is not the case, because the reform could have exactly opposite effects: meanwhile, the user would no longer have the certainty of the commissions to pay because it would no longer be their bank that would decide but each ATM used. And these costs would only be discovered at the time of cash withdrawal.
Another thing that stands out is the increases compared to the rates paid today, and the question arises: why should I charge lower to people who are not your customers? At this point the ball passes to the Antitrust, the only one capable of rejecting the request made by Bancomat Spa.
What ATM question
“The replacement of the exchange rates with the application to the cardholder of any commission defined autonomously by each bank that owns the ATM and therefore provides the withdrawal service through its own equipment. This fee will be communicated to the cardholder before theauthorization to the withdrawal operation“: Therefore, the commissions would no longer be paid by the customer to his bank but would be paid directly at the counter, knowing, on the spot, what would be the amount of commission paid.
What Antitrust Responds
“L’Antitrust will evaluate whether the new circuit rules could constitute an agreement that could restrict or distort competition in the common market in accordance with Article 101 TFEU. “, explains the Authority in a press release. As reported by Business Insider, the authority undertakes to examine the existence and nature of the efficiencies, the transmission to consumers of the related benefits, the indispensable nature of the new rules to achieve the same efficiencies and the non-elimination of competition in the market. The investigation initiated by Agcm will be completed by the end of next year.
