Butterfield Bank yesterday confirmed that it is absorbing a portion of a 0.6 percent charge applied by credit card companies for cross-border transactions.

First notice of this was a message on credit card statements Butterfield customers received this week.

The bank statement read: “A cross border fee will be applied on all transactions completed outside of Bermuda, including those done in the US. Butterfield is absorbing a part of this fee levied on the bank. But a portion of it, 30 basis points will be added to your charges for US transactions, effective July 1.

“For example, a transaction of $100 done in the US will attract a ‘cross border fee — $0.30’ and will be shown as a separate line item on your statement.”

But the full charge for all cross-border charges is actually 60 basis points.

Asked yesterday about its decision to absorb some of the new fees, the bank stated: “Butterfield credit cards provide customers with a convenient, secure payment option that can be used virtually anywhere in the world — in person or online. When customers avail themselves of the international payment capabilities of Butterfield MasterCard and Visa card products, fees reflecting their use of those services appear on their statements.

“The fees stem from the introduction of ‘cross border’ fees by the card associations — Visa and MasterCard — on transactions effected by US-based merchants. The card associations charge Butterfield extra fees on such transactions. Butterfield is passing on a portion of those cross border fees to customers, whilst absorbing the balance of the charges. This has been the case since the card associations first introduced the new fees (Visa in May 2014, MasterCard in mid-2013).

“Cross border transactions attract additional card association fees because they must be routed through a Global Clearing House Management system and international switches, adding to their processing cost. In addition, all international transactions where the card associations perform a currency conversion also attract fees.”