Amazon is considering dropping Visa as a partner on its U.S. co-branded credit card after earlier confirming it would stop accepting Visa credit cards in the United Kingdom as a dispute over payments intensified.
The e-commerce giant is in talks with several payment networks including Mastercard Inc, American Express and Visa as part of what it called its standard process for reviewing its co-branded credit card agreement.
Visa declined to comment on the co-branded card. Mastercard and American Express did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier, shares of Visa closed 4.7% lower after Amazon said it would stop taking payments from Visa credit cards in the UK from Jan. 19, 2022. In a statement, it said such charges should be "going down over time with technological advancements, but instead they continue to stay high or even rise."
In recent months, Amazon has introduced surcharges on customers using Visa credit cards in Singapore and Australia, citing high fees, as the relationship between the two firms deteriorated.
Since Britain's exit from the European Union, an EU-enforced cap on fees charged by card issuers is no longer in place in the UK, meaning providers are free to hike charges.
Visa last month began charging 1.5% of the transaction value for credit card payments made online or over the phone between the UK and EU, and 1.15% for debit card transactions, up from 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
The average credit card processing fees across the industry range between 1.5% and 3.5% of each transaction, according to analysts.
In the past, other big retailers have settled fee disputes with Visa after announcing they were going to quit taking Visa credit cards in narrow segments of their businesses.
Amazon customers can still use Visa debit cards, Mastercard and Amex credit cards, and Eurocard, in the UK, Amazon said in a note to customers.
Visa said in a statement it was "disappointed that Amazon is threatening to restrict consumer choice."
Shares of rival Mastercard dropped 2.8% on Wednesday. Amazon shares rose 0.2%. American Express shares closed 0.7% lower.
The British Retail Consortium said other retailers in the United Kingdom faced higher charges for cross-border payments, following Britain's departure from the European Union.
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