Visa, MasterCard Accused of Price Fixing by ATM Operators
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Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., the world’s biggest payment networks, were sued by a trade group representing operators of automated teller machines over claims the firms fix prices and suppress competition among ATM networks.
The group, in a lawsuit filed today in federal court in Washington, accused Visa and MasterCard of antitrust violations for restricting independent ATM operators from charging varying prices for customers using alternative networks such as STAR, Shazam Inc. or TransFund. Under a uniform agreement, the operators can’t charge less for transactions over a network that competes with Visa and MasterCard, according to the complaint.