Visa Europe is considering pulling out of Hungary because lower interchange fees have drastically reduced business. Visa has appealed to Gyula Pleschinger, the state secretary of Hungarian Economy Ministry, for help. The company told Pleschinger the interchange fee is critical and if a strategy cannot be worked out, Visa will have to leave Hungary. The number of Visa cards in circulation dropped by 33 percent over the last 18 months. Visa lowered its interchange fee to 0.2 percent after a decision by Hungary’s Competition Office in 2008 levied HUF 1.9bn in fines for cartel activity among payments companies and banks.
