Visa and Mastercard have предложed to reduce the fees merchants pay when tourists use their cards in the European Union, in a move aimed at avoiding possible antitrust fines, people familiar with the matter said.
The proposed cut would still leave those charges above the levels paid on EU-issued cards, according to the sources. The European Commission is expected to consult retailers and consumer groups before deciding whether to accept the offer, and criticism from those groups could push regulators to demand deeper reductions.
The case has been running for years. Visa was charged in August 2017 over fees applied when cards issued outside the EU were used in the bloc, while Mastercard’s case dates to July 2015. Regulators have said the fees can raise prices for goods and services across the market.
Retailers have long argued that interchange fees are a hidden cost, and the card networks have already paid billions of dollars in class action settlements. Mastercard has said it has no information to share on its ongoing engagement with the European Commission. The Commission and Visa declined to comment.
The probe also has a broader history. EuroCommerce, the business lobbying group whose 1997 complaint helped trigger the EU investigations, declined to comment. Visa Europe was acquired by Visa Inc in June 2016, and the EU said the earlier structure of the business was part of its review.
Mastercard has warned that it could face a fine of more than $1 billion if found to have breached EU antitrust rules, although a negotiated settlement could reduce that amount. Under EU settlement rules, companies do not receive fines and are not required to admit wrongdoing. The Commission can impose penalties of up to 10 percent of a company’s global turnover for antitrust violations.
Visa and Mastercard previously agreed to cap cross-border fees within Europe in 2014 and 2009 respectively, after another EU investigation. Those caps applied to transactions in one EU country charged for payments made in another EU country.
Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Alexander Smith.
