Amex airline card can face cap if fees are equivalent to interchange, EU court rules (update*)
By Lewis Crofts ( April 16, 2026, 09:49 GMT | Insight) -- American Express payments with its Air France-KLM co-branded card partner can be subject to a regulated cap if they have the same “object or effect” as the “interchange” fees common to the card schemes of Visa and Mastercard, the EU's top court has said. The ruling implies authorities must look beyond labels and examine the economic substance of Amex fees to decide if they might be circumventing regulated caps.American Express payments with its Air France-KLM co-branded card partner can be subject to a regulated cap if they have the same “object or effect” as the “interchange” fees common to the card schemes of Visa and Mastercard, the EU's top court has said....
Prepare for tomorrow’s regulatory change, today
MLex identifies risk to business wherever it emerges, with specialist reporters across the globe providing exclusive news and deep-dive analysis on the proposals, probes, enforcement actions and rulings that matter to your organization and clients, now and in the longer term.
Know what others in the room don’t, with features including:
- Daily newsletters for Antitrust, M&A, Trade, Data Privacy & Security, Technology, AI and more
- Custom alerts on specific filters including geographies, industries, topics and companies to suit your practice needs
- Predictive analysis from expert journalists across North America, the UK and Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific
- Curated case files bringing together news, analysis and source documents in a single timeline
Experience MLex today with a 14-day free trial.