The Kansas City Business Journal reports that Euronet Worldwide Inc. will take a multimillion-dollar hit this year from a drop in ATM fees in Poland. The Leawood, Kan.-based company says Visa Europe notified its member banks that it will reduce the Polish domestic ATM interchange fee from approximately $1.20 to 45 cents, effective May 1. The interchange fees are paid by banks issuing Visa-logo cards to owners of ATMs for transactions.
Euronet estimates the change will cut the company's pretax profits by $5.6 million and after-tax profits by $4.4 million for 2010.
Euronet share prices dropped about 10.2 percent on Tuesday, dipping as low as $18.82 per share.
Euronet has about 1,500 company-owned ATMs under management in Poland and, through management and network participation agreements, makes 2,560 ATMs available to financial institutions in that country.
