Scheme fees: What acquirers cannot yet calculate

Scheme fees have increased considerably in recent years. Alongside interchange, they make up the bulk of an acquirer’s costs, yet they are opaque, cannot be calculated as transactions happen and are hard to pass on to merchants accurately. In this episode of the Insights Interview, Jack Robertson, data journalist at The Payments Association, speaks with John Berns, managing director of SRM Europe, about why scheme fees have become the hardest cost in payments to control. The conversation explores how recovery gaps open up unnoticed, what SRM and technology partner Torus have built to close them and what fee transparency means for acquirers and merchants by 2027.