European Commission Probes Visa And Mastercard Fees To Find Anti-Competitive Practices
European Commission Probes Visa And Mastercard Fees To Find Anti-Competitive Practices
Sends questions to respondents seeking replies by 2 June
The European Commission has widened its probe into the fees charged by Visa and Mastercard and has sought feedback from terminal providers and payments companies to ascertain anti-competitive practices.
Recently, it sent new queries after a similar one was distributed to retailers and merchants in April.
The investigation by the European Union’s (EUs) antitrust regulator began in September 2024 after receiving complaints from merchants and payments companies about Visa and Mastercard's fees.
The companies charge scheme fees for services on participation in their card system and processes two-thirds of payments in euros.
The competition regulator’s questions pertained to the fees or services charged by the two companies between 2017-2024, the number of new fees or services introduced, and the number of changes. It enquired which scheme and processing services were mandatory, and how Visa and Mastercard informed users about new fees or changes to the existing fee structure.
The Commission questioned the respondents if the information provided by the two companies was clear and if they provided sufficient notice about the changes. It asked whether they complained to Visa and Mastercard in the last seven years and how long it took to process the grievances.
Meanwhile, a Mastercard spokesperson said, "We offer consumers and businesses choice, ways to pay and be paid that are hassle-free and worry-free, secure and most convenient for them.”
Visa maintained that its fees reflected the value it provided to financial institutions, merchants and consumers in Europe. "This includes extremely high levels of security and fraud prevention, near-perfect operational resilience and reliability."
The questionnaire focused on the degree to which the schemes must be accepted by payment service providers and how fees was raised in recent years. The Commission seems to be exploring ways to establish that Visa and Mastercard have a dominant market position and could potentially be abusing it.
