EU threatens Mastercard with fine - by David Gow
MasterCard, the world's second-largest credit card group, could face a fine of up to €230m (US $300m) after the EU accused it today of anti-competitive behaviour by fixing the fees millions of retailers must pay for accepting its payment cards. The European Commission, in a further flexing of its pro-consumer muscles, said it had sent a supplementary "statement of objections" to MasterCard which also owns the Maestro debit card brand. It first accused the group and its bigger rival, Visa, of restrictive practices through pre-determining "cross-border interchange fees" in September 2003. MasterCard, which issues 45% of all credit and debit cards in Europe, is also being investigated by Britain's Office of Fair Trading as, spurred by Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, regulators mount a crusade against anti-competitive behaviour in the EU's financial services sector.
The EU credit card sector alone is worth €1350bn, with €23bn payments made a year, while MasterCard is used by 24m merchants in 210 countries.
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