GRTU Backs EC complaint Against Visa Europe

Posted by John B. Frank Sunday, June 21, 2009

The corporate lawyers at Visa have a busy year ahead of them...

GRTU (General Retailers and Traders Union) backs EuroCommerce’s complaint against Visa Europe
12 years after its initial complaint against Visa and MasterCard, EuroCommerce is lodging a new complaint against Visa Europe.

The European retail association argues that the fees set by Visa and its member banks and imposed on retailers, constitute an infringement of European competition law. It was the imposition of exactly such fees which led the European Commission to rule against MasterCard in December 2007. EuroCommerce calls for the same robust decision against Visa.

At the core of the complaint is the Multilateral Interchange Fee (MIF): when a customer pays with a Visa debit or credit card, the merchant has to pay to his bank a non-negotiable and completely opaque amount. The fact that retailers pay for benefits which go to others distorts competition between banks: the more banks compete, the higher the prices.

Furthermore, EuroCommerce does not regard new rates published by Visa on 11 March, 2009 as a fair amount either, while MasterCard rates on cross-border transactions are zero. Studies published by the banks themselves show that the cost of running a pan-European debit card, profit included, is not higher than 1 eurocent per transaction.

GRTU, Visa, EuroCommerce, Visa Europe, Multilateral Interchange Fee, MIF,

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