Morocco’s lower ceilings on domestic card interchange fees took effect on 1 October. The general cap fell to 0.50% of each transaction from 0.65%. A 0.15% ceiling now applies to payments made to government bodies and to proximity-commerce transactions. Bank Al-Maghrib adopted the change in a decision dated 6 July.
Interchange is the fee paid by a merchant’s acquiring institution to the bank that issued the customer’s card. It forms part of the cost that merchants bear when accepting card payments. Morocco introduced its previous 0.65% ceiling in October 2024. The central bank and Competition Council announced the new rates in July, making implementation rather than adoption the current milestone.
PAYMENT MARKET OPENS TO COMPETITION
The fee change accompanies Morocco’s transition from a single-acquirer card market to a multi-acquirer model. The Competition Council made commitments from the Centre Monétique Interbancaire and its bank shareholders binding in October 2024. Those measures required the centre to stop acquiring new merchants and transfer its merchant-contract portfolio while retaining a neutral processing role.
Bank Al-Maghrib has supported newly licensed and existing payment institutions as they deploy acquiring services. The authorities said the opening had diversified commercial offers and reduced merchant-acquiring commissions. They linked lower acceptance costs and greater competition to broader use of electronic payments.
IMPLEMENTATION WILL TEST MERCHANT BENEFITS
The 0.50% limit does not determine the complete price charged to every merchant, because interchange is only one component of acceptance costs. The lower 0.15% ceiling gives government and smaller proximity-commerce payments a different regulatory treatment. Its commercial effect will depend on how acquirers pass the reduction into merchant pricing.
Bank Al-Maghrib and the Competition Council said they would continue monitoring the card-payment market. The next evidence will come from merchant tariffs, acquiring competition and payment volumes after the new caps. Those indicators should show whether implementation lowers acceptance costs and supports greater electronic-payment use.