Complaint for “excessive fees” filed against Twint with Comco

The Swiss Retail Federation has filed a complaint with the Competition Commission (Comco) against Twint. The organization, which includes giants such as IKEA, Lidl, and Aldi, accuses the payment app of "abusing its market position by charging excessive fees to the detriment of the retail industry and other sectors."

In 2024, some 773 million transactions were made with Twint. This represents a growth of more than 30% compared to 2023, the association explains in a press release. "Retailers can no longer do without this payment channel, since this service is demanded by customers," it laments. "But for retailers, the Twint fees paid by merchants have become an unacceptable burden . These charges are now regularly equal to, or even higher than, those of credit cards."

"Twint violates Swiss antitrust law both by abusing its dominant market position and by entering into unlawful competition agreements with buyers on the one hand and between the banks that own Twint on the other," notes the Swiss Retail Federation. "The economically unjustified costs that this practice unlawfully imposes on retailers are a burden on the retail trade as well as on many other sectors, such as the restaurant industry."

The retailers' association therefore hopes that with its complaint, Comco will force Twint to reduce the fees levied on retailers so that they return to "market-compliant conditions." This would also benefit consumers, "because the retail sector passes on part of the fees in question to them ," it added.