Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price under heavy fire from industry giants

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Swedish-based Klarna, was last week scathing of Afterpay Ltd‘s (ASX: APT) merchant fees, referring to them as an extortion scheme. Mr. Siemiatkowski’s attack, as reported in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), also included calls for regulators to provide a “cap” on merchant fees. The sentiment was echoed by Matt Comyn, CEO of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). This attack follows on from confirmation that United States payments giant, Affirm, intends to enter the Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) market, while other payments giants like Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) have been entering the US market. The Afterpay share price fell by 3% last week.

CommBank has a 5.5% stake…