EU antitrust regulator accuses MasterCard of excessive card fees

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators accused MasterCard on Thursday of over-charging non-European cardholders to process their purchases in Europe, the second time the EU has taken on the world's No. 2 credit and debit card network.

The latest move by the European Commission came after a two-year long investigation and is part of its efforts to trim such fees and boost cross-border trade. Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have waged lengthy battles against the charges.

MasterCard capped its cross-border interchange fees, which are levied on retailers' credit and debit card transactions, in 2009, after the EU competition enforcer said the high level of charges breached antitrust rules.

The Commission said it had sent a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to the company related to two issues.

"We have concerns both in relation to the rules MasterCard applies to cross-border transactions within the EU, as well as the fees charged to retailers for receiving payments made with

cards issued outside Europe," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

MasterCard said: "We will be formally responding to the statement of objections and are also working with the European Commission on the issue as part of an ongoing constructive dialogue."

(Reporting by Julia Fioretti and Foo Yun Chee, editing by Robin Emmott and Elaine Hardcastle)

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