Few French people have paid attention to this modification made by various banks on bank cards.
An apparently banal gesture, such as payment by bank card, actually hides significant financial issues. For the French, composing a secret code or making a contactless payment has become commonplace. However, this habit results in price increases on daily products.
Whether for shopping, fuel or a meal at the restaurant, the use of the bank card contributes to the increase in prices. The reason? An omnipresent element on these cards: the CB (bank card) logo, a symbol well known to French consumers.
When a purchase is set by card, costs are taken from the amount collected, directly impacting the merchant’s margin. These costs include the Interbank Payment Commission (CIP), the costs of networks such as CB, Visa and Mastercard, as well as the Commission of the merchant’s bank. On average, the CB network takes approximately 0.9% from transactions, while international networks can reach costs of 1.2%, which represents an additional load for merchants.
However, more and more, banks emit cards only visa or mastercard, and no longer from the CB network. The share of payments made via the CB network fell 97% to 85% in three years, largely due to the development of online and mobile payments, which favor Visa and Mastercard networks. The emergence of neo-banks and online banks not affiliated with the CB network also contributes to this phenomenon.
This trend could have a direct impact on the prices paid by consumers because the commissions deducted from the merchant are higher, thus cutting off on its margin. The system of System U, but also Auchan, Cdiscount or SNCF have already alerted to the phenomenon.
Faced with the increase in banking costs, the brands will be forced to adjust their prices upwards, thus reappearing this additional cost on consumers. This discreet but significant change in payment methods could weigh a little more on the purchasing power of households.