My current understanding is the issuer fees will drop if LCR is...

My current understanding is the issuer fees will drop if LCR is implemented for mobile transactions (as occured for other LCR enforcement)

This is the basic flow (which basically everyone here probably already knows)


In more detail: The Merchant Service fee is what is charged to provide the service. If the card scheme (issuer) fees are reduced, the overall fee can be reduced by the same amount (and the surcharge also reduced)
I've not come across any hard caps on fees or surcharges, but there is this in the RBA standard:
https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of-card-payments-regulation/pdf/standard-no-3-of-2016-scheme-rules-relating-to-merchant-pricing-2021-11-18.pdf



Basically, the surcharge can be whatever it costs the merchant to provide the service. So long as the acquirers fee is not outrageous, the RBA isn't really going to regulate harder (at least that's my take).
That also means that enforcing LCR on mobile wallets will reduce the fee as a percentage of the total (and reduce overall cost of txn for customers), whilst allowing acquirers to maintain their fees.


Happy to be corrected on any of the above.