ANTITRUST ACTION – The U.S. Justice Department accuses Visa of maintaining a monopoly in the debit card market. According to the government, the company limits competition and imposes high fees on merchants
The Ministry of Justice of UNITED STATES filed an antitrust complaint against Visa, accusing the company of maintaining a monopoly in the market for debit cards by limiting competition and imposing excessive fees on merchants. This action by the US government is part of a series of numerous lawsuits brought by the Biden administration against large companies, aimed at curbing monopolistic behavior and strengthening the enforcement of antitrust laws, writes the New York Times.
It is important to clarify that across the Atlantic, debit cards differ from credit cards. In fact, payment with the former is directly taken from the user’s bank account. While for the latter, a ceiling is allocated by the bank that the holder must repay each month on a specific date.
De facto exclusive agreements
According to the government, Visa entered into de facto exclusive agreements with banks and some tradersincentivizing them to process the majority of their transactions through its payment network. These agreements are backed by threats of higher fees if merchants choose to use other payment networks(…) Read more on 20minutes
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