Mastercard is facing a € 570 ##m ( $ 650 m ) fine for breaching EU antitrust rules on cross - border payments . An investigation by the European Commission concluded that due to Mastercard ’s rules requiring banks to apply the interchange fees of the retailer ’s country of location , retailers were unable to benefit from lower fees offered by a bank in another EU member state , thus restricting competition and hiking the cost of card payments .
Mastercard is facing a €570m ($650m) penalty for breaching EU antitrust rules on cross-border payments. An investigation by the European Commission concluded that due to Mastercard’s rules requiring banks to apply the interchange fees of the retailer’s country of location, retailers were unable to benefit from lower fees offered by a bank in another EU member state, thus restricting competition and hiking the cost of card payments.