The EU yesterday said that US credit card giant MasterCard Inc overcharged customers and retailers, having already found rival Visa Inc at fault over fees levied on card payments.
The European Commission said in a preliminary statement of objections that it believed MasterCard was in breach of EU single market competition rules.
“Many consumers use payment cards every day, when they shop for food, clothes or purchase anything online. We currently suspect MasterCard is artificially raising the costs of card payments, which would harm consumers and retailers in the EU,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
“We have concerns both in relation to the rules MasterCard applies to cross-border transactions within the EU, as well as the fees charged to retailers for receiving payments made with cards issued outside Europe,” Vestager said. “MasterCard now has an opportunity to respond to our charges.”
MasterCard confirmed it had received the commission’s statement of objections and would respond in due course.
“We are also working with the European Commission on the issue as part of an ongoing constructive dialogue,” it said. “Throughout this procedure we have kept the needs of both consumers and merchants in mind and aim to further encourage the uptake of electronic payments inside and outside the European Union.”
The commission, which polices competition policy, has been investigating MasterCard and Visa for years over the fees they charge following complaints by customers and retailers alike that they were getting a raw deal.
The commission yesterday said that its main concern was over what are known as interchange fees, the charge for using a card, which varies from nation to nation.
MasterCard’s rules mean banks cannot offer lower interchange fees to retailers based in another nation where the charge might be higher, it said.
“As a result, retailers cannot benefit from lower fees elsewhere and competition between banks cross-border may be restricted, in breach of European antitrust rules,” it added.
In 2013, Visa cut its fees by up to 60 percent and agreed to “reform its rules to facilitate cross-border competition” following a similar commission probe.
The sending of a formal statement of objections does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.
The commission can fine a company up to 10 percent of annual sales if it is found to have breached EU competition rules.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last