To further strengthen the functioning of the payments market, the Riksbank considers that the pricing of payment services needs to become more transparent. Today, the pricing of payment services for companies can be difficult to understand, and list prices for card acquiring, for example, differ from the actual costs paid by companies. Almost a third of the small companies that participated in the Riksbank's survey on payments lack knowledge of what their payments and payment services actually cost. The same applies to consumers, who may also find it difficult to compare the costs of different services. Banking services are namely often gathered into various packages that differ with regard to the basic supply and what constitutes extra services. Even specific services, such as those used by consumers to send money abroad (so-called remittances), are associated with unclear pricing. This was highlighted by the Riksbank in the Payments Report 2024.

Increased transparency on the pricing of payment services would allow companies and consumers to make better informed choices, which in turn could promote competition in the payments market. In light of this, the Riksbank considers that the Government should consider giving the Swedish Competition Authority the task of analysing both the actual pricing of payment services and its transparency towards end-customers. Based on this analysis, the Authority should propose measures to increase price transparency and thereby strengthen competition in the payments market.