During the call, MCX CEO Dekkers Davidson and COO Scott Rankin clarified that MCX merchants who choose to accept Apple Pay are not subject to fines. As stated in the blog post earlier today, merchants are also free to leave the consortium entirely at any time without penalty beyond forfeiting the time and money already invested in the effort.
This is still not a clear statement -- and I have a feeling the public ambiguity is very much intentional on MCX's part. This appears to be one shady group of people. And they want my bank account number and social security number? Not a chance in hell.
If the MCX merchants can choose to accept Apple Pay without being subject to fines, why did CVS and Rite Aid turn off the NFC functionality months before the CurrentC system is ready? That doesn't make any logical sense. They're still allowing customers to swipe plastic so there is ZERO reason not to turn NFC back on. The transaction fees are the same using NFC vs. swiping plastic.