On vacation, we quickly use our bank card. Except that this shopping can be particularly expensive if you do not pay attention to the conversion fees applied by the banking establishment.
Progress in the Union
Outside the euro zone, your payments and withdrawals in CB in foreign currencies are converted at the interbank exchange rate, the rate of which varies continuously, before being the subject of a commission charged by the operator (Visa or MasterCard) and possibly another by your bank. All in the most complete ignorance. European regulation 2019/518 of March 19, 2019, which entered into force on April 19, 2020, intends to lift the veil on this opaque management.
As the French Banking Federation explains, this text "imposes the transparency of fees applied to cross-border transactions within the European Union". This legislation aims to facilitate payment transactions between two Member States, one of which is not in the euro area. Outside the EU, we will therefore have to continue to be vigilant.
Flexibility
If this regulation does not regulate the commissions applied by banking establishments, it has the merit of requiring them to play fair with users. In fact, it “requires that the estimate of all the exchange charges applied be displayed on points of sale and ATMs, in the form of a comparison with the last exchange rate of the Central Bank. European (ECB rate + X%). This information must be available before the validation of the transaction, ”explains the French Banking Federation (FBF).
Likewise, if you want to make a transfer to an account located in another Member State that does not use the euro, your bank will have to inform you, before the payment is validated, of all the fees applied to the transaction ( service charges, exchange charges, etc.), as well as the amount of the sum transferred in the beneficiary's currency. While this European regulation was to come into full force in April 2020, the health crisis has prompted more flexibility. According to the FBF, "the European Commission has enabled each local authority (Banque de France and ACPR in France) to coordinate with its community in order to find the best solution for this implementation".
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