The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has clarified that merchants are not legally permitted to charge customers an additional fee of 2.5% for transactions made using debit or credit cards.
The Central Bank stated that under the agreement between merchants and banks when acquiring a card payment machine, the additional fee cannot be passed on to the customer.
“If a merchant charges more than the listed price, customers should immediately report it to their card issuing bank,” a Central Bank official told the media.
The clarification came amid increasing complaints from customers that some shops and service providers are adding additional fees for card payments.