Alarm from credit card issuers over ComCom proposals

Commerce Commission proposals will have the opposite of their intended effect, says Mastercard's Richard Wormald (Image: Supplied)

Pattrick Smellie

Wed, 02 Apr 2025

New Zealand’s banking system will become less competitive, and open banking start-ups will fail if Commerce Commission proposals to regulate bank interchange fees go ahead, says the regional head of one of the world’s largest credit card issuers.“We’re at sort of one minute to midnight,” Richard Wormald, Mastercard’s division president for Australasia, told BusinessDesk from Sydney, warning that the impact of the proposed changes would be to restrict access to credit for less affluent people and likely stifle...

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