On Tuesday, the European Commission fined the card company Mastercard 570 million euros, equivalent to almost 6 billion kronor, for violating EU competition rules.
Mastercard has limited merchants' ability to benefit from better terms from banks in other EU countries.
The Commission announced this in a press release on Tuesday.
”By preventing merchants from seeking better terms from banks in other EU countries, Mastercard’s rules have raised the costs of card payments and harmed consumers and retailers in the EU,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a comment.
When consumers use credit or debit cards, the merchant's bank pays an interchange fee to the consumer's bank. Mastercard's rules forced merchants to use their home country's interchange fees. This meant merchants could not take advantage of offers from banks with lower fees.
The Commission began its investigation in April 2013. In December 2015, a cap on the fee was introduced.
Source: di.se
