AP: On Tuesday European Union officials confirmed they have asked Visa Europe to answer antitrust charges that its fees for cross-border card purchases violate EU rules. The European Commission said it had sent a so-called statement of objections outlining the problems it has with Visa Europe's multilateral interchange fees. It says those fees, which are set by Visa, "restrict competition" between banks and can lead to higher costs for shops and consumers and "infringes European antitrust rules."
The EU charges come after they had opened a probe into Visa Europe's fees in March 2008, and comes a week after EU regulators dropped their threat of fines against Visa rival MasterCard after they promised to cut fees they have been charging for cross-border card purchases.
No comments:
Post a Comment