Visa Europe Faces Antitrust Complaint From Retailers (Update2)
By Peter Chapman and Matthew Newman

(Bloomberg) -- Visa Europe Ltd., operator of the largest payment-card network in the 27-nation European Union, faces a formal antitrust complaint from EuroCommerce, a group representing retailers.

A transaction fee paid by retailers, which is set by Visa and its member banks, breaks EU antitrust rules, EuroCommerce, whose members include Carrefour SA and Tesco Plc, said in an e- mailed statement today. The so-called interchange fee is paid by the retailer’s bank to the bank that issued the customer’s card.

“The Visa interchange fee procedure is completely unfair,” said Xavier Durieu, secretary general of EuroCommerce, in the statement. “Retailers are forced to pay for a range of services from which they do not benefit. Bank rates are the only services which retailers, even the largest ones, are not able to negotiate.”

Visa Europe already faces charges sent in April by the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator. The company’s fee guidelines may prevent competition among Visa-issuing banks and drive up the costs for businesses accepting credit cards, the commission said. Companies can be fined up to 10 percent of annual sales for antitrust violation.

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Visa Europe, Antitrust, EuroCommerce, CarreFour, Tesco, European Commission, EU, Interchange