Stats › Active, passive and flows › Conversion mark-up
European law makes currency conversion mark-ups disclosable but not capped, and nobody publishes what they are
| Obligation | Provision | Applies from |
|---|---|---|
| Total conversion charges expressed as a percentage mark-up over the latest available euro reference rates issued by the central bank, disclosed before the payment is initiated | Article 3a(1) of Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 as amended, codified as Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 | 19 April 2020 |
| One electronic message without undue delay, then one a month for each currency, per linked card | Article 3a(5), codified as Article 4(5) | 19 April 2021 |
| Equal charges for cross-border payments in euro, conversion charges excluded | Article 3(1) and Article 3(4) | 15 December 2019 |
| Any numerical ceiling on the mark-up itself | no such provision exists in the text | not applicable |
Read in the Official Journal texts of Regulation (EU) 2019/518 and the codified Regulation (EU) 2021/1230.
Since April 2020 a provider must express total conversion charges as a percentage mark-up over the central bank reference rate. The law sets no maximum. Across seven official documents the only mark-up figure found anywhere is a 2016 study of fourteen cash machines, cited at one remove.
noneNumerical cap on the conversion mark-up
0Official measurements of mark-ups by provider
over 12%Only mark-up figure found, 14 cash machines, 2016
monthlyElectronic message frequency per currency, per card
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