EU fines Mastercard more than half a billion euros

Re:EU fines Mastercard more than half a billion euros by vvillena on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @11:36AM (#18969503)

Yeah, in the same way that a washing machine can be replaced by a river and a piece of wood.

As the parent comment explains, nearly every electronic money system in Europe uses Visa or Mastercard as a backend, creating a unhealthy duopoly. The free market needs some competition so it can thrive.

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Re:EU fines Mastercard more than half a billion euros by Someone on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @04:35PM (#18972763)

”nearly every electronic money system in Europe uses Visa or Mastercard as a backend”

I think that’s nearly every credit card system. Many countries have debit card systems that, AFAIK 100% outside of Visa and MasterCard, traditionally work across most banks in the countries, and nowadays work across the Single European Payment Area (28 EU countries plus six others. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area).

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Re:EU fines Mastercard more than half a billion euros by blattimwind on Tuesday January 22, 2019 @01:32PM (#18970866)

AIUI the two largely act as a fallback and the relevant interbank network (e.g. Girocard) is used directly if possible.

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