The EU’s competition authorities have fined the credit card provider Mastercard is a money penalty in the amount of 570 million Euro. As a result, the EU Commission gave in to excessive charges.
The credit card provider Mastercard has to pay due to high customer charges a fine of 570 million euros. The EU informed the Commission. The card payment providers have detained dealers to benefit from better conditions offered by banks from other EU countries, in breach of antitrust regulations, said competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in Brussels.
This increased the cost for the customer. Mastercard had recognised the breaches and, therefore, the penalty had been reduced by 10 percent.
competition prevented,
Background are the so-called inter-Bank fees, in the case of a purchase between the Bank, such as a super market and the money the house of the customer is due. When a consumer uses a Debit or credit card, the Bank pays the transaction (the so-called “Acquirers”) to the Bank of the cardholder (the “Issuer”), the inter-Bank fee. The Acquirer passes will have to pay this fee to the retailer, like other costs in the final price, all consumers – even those that use no card.
EU competition Commissioner Vestager, said that Mastercard had accepted the punishment already.
in Accordance with the regulations of Mastercard, the Acquirer had to use the inter-Bank fees of the country in which the retailer was located. Possibly, but there are cheaper banks in other EU countries – which could, however, be in accordance with the terms and conditions of Mastercard that it was not consulted.
Higher prices for consumers
Already in 2013, the Commission had, therefore, initiated a formal anti-trust proceedings against Mastercard. The Commission’s investigation revealed that retailers are paid on the basis of the regulations of Mastercard for the card payment services of banks, if you are able to select cheaper offers.
