An interchange reimbursement fee is paid by an acquirer (a financial institution that processes card transactions on behalf of a merchant) to an issuer (a financial institution that issues cards to cardholders).
Visa sets interchange reimbursement fees as transfer fees between issuers and acquirers to balance and grow the payment system for the benefit of all participants. Merchants do not pay interchange reimbursement fees; merchants pay a "merchant discount fee" to their acquirer. This is an important distinction, because merchants buy a variety of processing services from financial institutions; all of these services may be included in their merchant discount fee.
The following tables set forth the Visa maximum interchange reimbursement fees applicable to New Zealand domestic transactions.
Please note that there are specific technical and other criteria that each transaction must meet in order to qualify for the different fee categories. Transactions which do not meet the processing criteria for a specific program will not be subject to that fee, but instead will be subject to the Standard interchange maximum fees.
Fees are subject to change without notice by Visa. For more information, please visit: https://www.visa.co.nz/about-visa/interchange.html
Visa New Zealand Domestic Maximum Debit Interchange Reimbursement Fees (*)
| Fee Program | Visa Commercial |
|---|---|
| Visa Fallback Debit Contact Card Present Program | 0.00% |
| Industry Program – Charities | 0.20% |
| Strategic Merchants – Card Present (CP) – Tier 1 | NZ$0.05 |
| Strategic Merchants– CP – Tier 2 | NZ$0.04 |
| Strategic Merchants– CP – Tier 3 (**) | NZ$0.03 |
| Strategic Merchants– CP – Tier 4 (**) | NZ$0.02 |
| Strategic Merchants – Card Not Present (CNP) – Tier 1 | 0.50% |
| Strategic Merchants– CNP – Tier 2 | 0.45% |
| Industry Program - Card Present Contactless – Government, Utilities & Telecom | NZ$0.70, capped at 0.20% |
| Industry Program – Card Present Contactless – Insurance | NZ$1.00, capped at 0.20% |
| Industry Program - Card Not Present – Government, Utilities & Telecom | NZ$0.70, capped at 0.55% |
| Industry Program – Card Not Present – Insurance | NZ$1.00, capped at 0.55% |
| Electronic – Card Present | 0.20% |
| Tokenized Online Program | 0.55% |
| Standard – Card Not Present | 0.60% |
Note (*) Excludes EFTPOS transactions (defined as face-to-face card present transactions utilizing account selection and PIN) switched domestically to issuer.
Note (**) Strategic Merchants are intended for merchants designated by Visa to be strategic, in which they meet certain criteria, including innovation and/or acceptance requirements. Specifically, Strategic Merchants – CP – Tier 4 is reserved for merchants that meet the Strategic Program Criteria and have approximately 85% of volume under NZD 15. Meanwhile, Strategic Merchants – CP Tier 3 is reserved for merchants that meet the Strategic Program Criteria and have significant volume processed through VisaNet.