MasterCard Fined $648 Million for High EU Card Fees

  • EU says rules artificially raised costs of card payments
  • Card company won reduction in penalty for cooperating with EU
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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MasterCard Inc. was fined 570.6 million euros ($648 million) by the European Union for imposing rules that regulators said may have artificially raised the costs of card payments in the region.

The European Commission said MasterCard unfairly prevented retailers from seeking cheaper rates from banks outside the EU country where they are based. MasterCard’s curbs on cross-border acquiring ended when the EU introduced credit card legislation in 2015. The EU’s probe started in 2013 and escalated with a statement of objections two years later.