Preferential interchange treatment for MCC 5814 ends 1 September 2026

Visa and Mastercard are removing the preferential interchange treatment that currently applies to fast food and Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants classified under Merchant Category Code (MCC) 5814 in Singapore.

What is changing

From 1 September 2026, Visa and Mastercard will remove the preferential interchange treatment for merchants under MCC 5814. Visa is removing its Fast Food Industry Fee Program rate, while Mastercard is removing MCC 5814 from its Emerging Markets acceptor business segment.

Standard applicable interchange rates will apply instead. MCC 5814 itself is not being removed.

Visa has advised that its change will be implemented within VisaNet at a later date. During the interim period, Visa will carry out a one-time manual rebalance.

Nomni is sharing this update so affected merchants can understand the change and prepare ahead of the effective date.

What is MCC 5814?

MCC 5814 is generally used to classify fast food and Quick Service Restaurant businesses - but is used to classify many other types of hospitality venues. If you are unsure how your venue is classified, Nomni can help confirm your MCC.

Why is this changing?

Visa's Fast Food Industry Fee Program was originally introduced to encourage card acceptance among QSR merchants.

Singapore has since seen strong growth in card acceptance and digital payments. Visa says the programme has achieved its intended objective and describes the change as a move towards more balanced and sustainable economics across issuers, acquirers and merchants.

Mastercard is making a comparable change, with the same overall effect of moving MCC 5814 merchants onto standard interchange treatment.

What this means for you

Fast food and QSR merchants under MCC 5814: Preferential Visa and Mastercard interchange treatment will no longer apply from 1 September 2026. Standard interchange rates will apply, which may increase your payment processing costs. The actual impact will depend on your current payments pricing and transaction mix.

Merchants in other categories: You are not affected by this change and your payment services will continue as normal.

There is no change to the customer payment experience and no operational changes are required to continue accepting Visa and Mastercard.

Not sure if this applies to you? Contact the Nomni team. We can confirm your merchant classification and help you understand what the change may mean for your payments costs.