Iran Payment Transaction Fees Up for Overhaul

Comprehensive policies that will allow for fees to be obtained from people on payment transactions made with retail point of sale devices will be finalized by the end of the current fiscal year in March 2018, but the implementation of the plan is still some time away, the deputy for innovative technologies at the Central Bank of Iran said.

“We hope to devise a clear policy on transaction fees and a series of policies to implement the scheme by the yearend, but the implementation timeline depends on the policies for next year,” Nasser Hakimi was also quoted as saying by the official news portal of the Monetary and Research Banking Institute.

At present, when a payment is made with a bank card, the bank receiving the payment has to pay a fee to the bank whose card has been used to make the payment while the person using the card does not pay any fees.

Hakimi noted that the central bank has been trying to come up with a system that would make the “real beneficiaries” pay the fees, but that requires significant research.

“The fact that where we will start, which transactions we will target, who our audience will be and the finished cost are important factors that entail their own intricacies,” he said.

The official also said the central bank cannot implement this policy alone and has therefore held various meetings with representatives of banks, payment service providers and other related entities to get their views, a process that he says is still ongoing.

As to whether banks and people getting services will both be subject to fees, Hakimi said the beneficiary will be defined based on the service that is being provided, “but it is possible that based on the volume of transactions, one of the d parties would not pay the fee”.