MasterCard must change within six months the way it sets its fees for processing card transactions or face a daily fine, the European Union's top antitrust watchdog said today.
"MasterCard's multilateral interchange fee, a charge levied on each payment at a retail outlet when the payment is processed, inflated the cost of card acceptance by retailers without leading to proven efficiencies," the European Commission said in a statement.
"MasterCard has six months to comply with the Commission's order to withdraw the fees. If MasterCard fails to comply, the Commission may impose daily penalty payments of 3.5 per cent of its daily global turnover in the preceding business year."
EuroCommerce, which represents millions of retailers across the 27-nation EU, had complained to the EU executive about the interchange fees set by MasterCard for cross-border purchases.