AP: Mastercard Faces Fines in Europe- by Aoife White
Mastercard Faces Fines in Europe - by Aoife White
Mastercard must drop fees it charges for cross-border transactions or face daily fines of 3.5 percent of daily global turnover, European Union regulators said Tuesday. The European Commission said that multilateral interchange fees charged to consumers for payments made in a different European country with either their MasterCard credit cards or Maestro debit cards unfairly inflated costs for retailers. EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes also warned that she would reopen a probe into Visa's fees on Dec. 31.Europeans make more than 23 billion card payments every year worth over 1.35 euros trillion ($1.94 trillion). They pay additional fees using their cards in another European nation, which regulators say curtails Europe's attempt to create a single market in 27 EU states. Some 45 percent of European payment cards carry a MasterCard or a Maestro logo. Visa continues to speak with the EU, but said cutting interchange fees would force consumers to pick up some of the cost burden from retailers.
Labels: Credit Card Companies, EU, Mastercard, Visa
