EU fine Mastercard more than half a billion euros | News | DW
The European Commission on Tuesday bowed Mastercard $ 570 million ($ 648 million) to prevent dealers from seeking better card payment terms in banks around Europe.
The Commission, which monitors the competition, said that MasterCard rules before 2015 forced
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Mastercard, which also controls the Maestro brand, is the second largest credit card program in Europe.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said that "By preventing buyers from acting on better terms offered by banks in other member states, Mastercard's rules artificially increased the cost of card payments, damaging consumers and dealers in the EU."
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When a customer pays a dealer with a credit card, the ore bank pays a fee to the cardholder's bank. The reseller's bank then sends this fee to the store, which increases the cost for the customers.
For 2015, the level of these "exchange fees" varied widely across Europe, but Mastercard's rules at that time required banks to receive card payments to
. This led to higher prices for dealers and consumers, limited cross-border competition and artificial segmentation of the internal market. ] Read more: Are credit card companies funded by US mass shootings?
"On this basis, the Commission concluded that MasterCard's rules prevented dealers from taking advantage of lower fees and limited competition between banks on borders, in violation of EU anti
The Commission said the violation ended after Mastercard changed the rules after the introduction of the Prohibition Goods Regulation
The fine would have been a higher one, but Brussels reduced the amount by 10 percent to thank Mastercard for cooperation.
law / rt (AFP, AP, dpa)
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