I don't know who you are referring to with "they", but some form of competition has started regarding FB.

As mentioned here, Mooncard generates 1 mile for each Euro spent with the corporate card and 1.5 miles for the Premium Card.

On a financial level Amex enjoys hugely inflated discount rates compared to Visa/MC in Europe. What fintech in Europe is going to bring strong revenue to AF? In France there is Qonto but it�s way too small.

Which leaves the big and tired French banks. I don�t think BNP Paribas or Soc Gen are going to be willing to invest in a competitive product because their discount rates are so minuscule. Their revenue model would have to be fee-based and consumers aren�t going to pay 1000� for top-tier services.

One of the reasons why US cards are so aggressive with bonuses, miles, etc is precisely that their discount rates are ridiculously high (and they have free reign to mess around with customer terms and conditions, charge usurious rates etc etc) all of which is not possible in Europe.

Just my two cents.

By "they" in this case i mean visa , following their move/partnership with ALL

Mooncard is , as far as i know , only available for corporate customers

what are these discount rates ??

FFPs and airlines/hotels miles is a niche market so yeah unfortunately you are right

100% agree

fifty_two

Discount rates vary according to sector and volume of the merchant but my guess is between 3-10%� most likely less for Franprix and IKEA but far above what Visa/MC are obliged to charge.

Indeed. Hence my "some form of competition has started "...

It is not an accross the board competition to Amex, but it is competition.

so isnt the word "discount" is misleading ? and are we talking about the rates per transaction that CC issuer can charge a merchant to use their network when a customer pays ???

Yes but that is the industry term for the amount of commission they take from establishments.

A euphemism ;-)

The underlying issue is the capping of interchange fees on credit cards in Europe. The interchange fee is the fee that is paid to the issuing bank (i.e. the bank of the credit card holder) but ultimately charged to the retailer via the card network (visa, mastercard). In North America, these are not capped. Therefore, it is in the interest of banks to issue as many credit cards and get their customers to use them so as to generate substantial fees for themselves via interchange fees. Merchants have to pay those fees and reflect them in their prices. Interchange fees, therefore, tend to be ultimately detrimental to consumers but in an indirect way which is largely invisible to consumers. For this reason, those interchange fees are capped in Europe to prevent banks from profiteering from them, with the consequence that it becomes far less attractive for banks to attempt to bribe customers to sign for new cards with various perks as they are not going to generate anywhere as much income from those cards as their US counterparts. Hence why you do not see the mega sign-up bonuses and other credit card perks in Europe that you see in the US.

Yes, exactly what I stated above ;-)

Yes that part i know , i was working for payment processors few years ago (either 100% online or with CC terminals) , i discovered an underlying world of regulations , money , cartels , workaround and so on ... one day if we meet in a ST lounge we should talk about it

its just the "discount" term was new for me , cause we called it another way , and yes the rate/fee/discount is different depending on the industry/volumes ......

I guess its also possible for big players to sign an agreement with the cartel in order to lower the costs

i wasnt aware of the law (or i forgot it) , but i guessed it based on many factors

so now you just confirm what i always thought about the "US vs Europe" side of this business , the US market is much more lucrative for the cartel

Yes, the discount rate will incorporate the interchange fee charged to the retailer's bank but also other charges that the bank charges the business concerned. Those other charges are less of an issue and you can normally let competition take care of that. What makes interchange fees particularly pernicious is that the person who pays (the retailer) has no commercial relation with the bank that receives it so that the normal mechanisms of competition cannot work. Indeed, to the extent that they work, they work in a perverse way in exerting an upward pressure of prices rather than the other way around: banks charge more to pay for the cost of perks to attract new card users but, instead of that cost being ultimately borne by card users, it is borne by retailers (and ultimately their customers).

There is an offer if you subscribe to a platinum AMEX : bonus of 50.000 miles + the normal 60 XP. But as the link is saying, it looks on invitation.
https://www.americanexpress.com/fr/b...num/index.html

I can confirm that the cashback has been given also for AF/KL non-EU departure flights. Same happened for the last offer in 12/2020.

50� cashback every 200� on amex AF plat (French based). Valid 3 times.
1st october - 30 November

can not see a similar offer on the gold one ?

on the gold one, I have 15� cash back every 100� spent, valid 3 times. From 01/10 to 30/11.