There is no business reason for this increase (increased risk, increased costs, etc.) other than fatter profits for MC. If there was a business rationale for this assessment increase, MC hasn’t articulated it. This further speaks to government regulation…
Effective April 18, 2011, MasterCard will be increasing the MasterCard assessment fee which MasterCard refers to as the Acquirer Brand Volume Fee (ABVF). The current 0.11% fee will increase by 0.01% to 0.12% on Consumer and Commercial credit volume for transactions of $1,000 or more (gross dollar volume). Clients that are currently charged for MasterCard assessments will incur this incremental increase.
Please note: This fee does not apply to Signature Debit transactions and credit transactions less than $1,000 will continue to be charged the current 0.11% fee.