The Central Bank issued a stern warning to merchants charging additional fee ranging from 2.5% to 3% from customers for payments made via debit or credit cards.
The Bank said that charging such a fee is strictly prohibited.
Responding to a query during a media briefing last week about the hidden surcharges added to electronic transactions the Central Bank said that any deviation from the listed retail price during card transactions is illegal.
Director of Payments and Settlements of the Central Bank K.K. Alwis said that passing on transaction fees to customers after acquiring the services from banks is prohibited.
He said that if a merchant demands more than the listed price, customers can request a receipt and report the incident to the bank that issued the card.
Currently around 1.6 million digital payments are made daily while roughly 800,000 transactions take place via cards and 600,000 online.
