What is changing

From 1 September 2026, both Visa and Mastercard will remove the preferential interchange treatment that applies to fast food and Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) merchants under MCC 5814 in Singapore. Visa is removing its Fast Food Industry Fee Program interchange rate, and Mastercard is removing MCC 5814 (Fast Food Restaurants) from its Emerging Markets acceptor business segment. From that date, the standard applicable interchange rates will apply to these merchants instead of the preferential treatment.

Visa’s change will be applied within VisaNet on a later date, which Visa says it will confirm in a future edition of the Visa Business News. To cover the interim period — from 1 September 2026 until the change takes effect in VisaNet — Visa will carry out a one-time manual rebalance.

As a licensed payment institution committed to transparency, Qashier is sharing this update so affected merchants and partners can prepare ahead of the effective date.

Background

Visa’s Fast Food Industry Fee Program was introduced to encourage card acceptance among Quick Service Restaurant merchants and to grow acceptance across the segment. Singapore has since seen strong, sustained growth in card acceptance among QSR merchants, supported by continued ecosystem development and wider adoption of digital payments. Visa attributes its decision to the programme having met this objective, and describes the change as a move toward more balanced and sustainable economics for issuers, acquirers and merchants.

Mastercard is making a comparable change by removing MCC 5814 from its Emerging Markets acceptor business segment, with the same overall effect of moving these merchants onto standard interchange treatment.

What this means for you

• Fast food / QSR merchants (MCC 5814) in Singapore: the preferential interchange treatment on your Visa and Mastercard transactions will no longer apply from the effective date above. Standard interchange rates will apply from that date, which may change your processing costs.
• Merchants in other categories: you are not affected by this change, and your services continue without interruption.
• Not sure if this applies to you? Contact us and we will confirm your merchant classification and what it means for your pricing.