The Competition Board reported that the investigation carried out against Mastercard and Visa resulted in the acceptance of the commitments offered.
A statement regarding the issue was made on the Competition Authority’s website.
In the statement, it was reminded that the Competition Board launched an investigation on Mastercard and Visa, which provide services in the field of payment systems on a global scale, on October 24, 2024, and the economic integrity consisting of Mastercard Europe SA Istanbul Liaison Office, Masterpass Teknoloji Hizmetleri AŞ (Masterpass), Mastercard Europe SA, Mastercard/Europay UK Limited, Global Mastercard Holdings LP, Mastercard International Incorporated, Mastercard A&M Investment Holdings LLC and Mastercard Incorporated (Mastercard) and Visa Europe Services LLC Turkey Representation, Visa Europe Services. It was stated that the investigation carried out regarding the economic integrity (Visa) consisting of LLC, Visa Europe Limited and Visa Inc. was concluded with the commitment procedure.
In the statement, it was emphasized that some competition problems that make the activities of competitors in the relevant markets difficult were detected in terms of the activities of Mastercard and Visa in the scheme services market in Türkiye and Mastercard’s activities in the digital wallet services market through Masterpass.
“IT IS ENJOYED TO PROVIDE DIVERSITY IN DIGITAL WALLET SERVICE”
Within the framework of the investigation, the statement pointed out that various commitments were made by Mastercard and Visa regarding the discounts/incentives within the scope of the services they offer to their buyers in order to eliminate the competition problems in the scheme services market. “The basis of the commitments is that the discounts and incentives offered are more understandable, objective and measured. In addition, improving commitments have been made by Mastercard and Visa in terms of the interchange commission rates applied to cross-border transactions. In this regard, Mastercard and Visa will directly contact their relevant business partners and share the details. “With the commitments, it is envisaged to eliminate competition concerns in the future, provide positive effects to the Turkish banking system and therefore contribute to the increase of the Turkish economy and social welfare.” expressions were used.
In the statement, it was also mentioned that Mastercard made various commitments regarding product positioning and campaign conditions in its relations with businesses that receive digital wallet services from the company, in order to eliminate competition problems in the digital wallet services market, and the following was noted:
“It is envisaged that the diversity of providers from which e-commerce shoppers can receive digital wallet services will increase and the visibility of these providers on payment screens will be ensured under fairer competition conditions. With the commitments presented, it is envisaged to create economic benefits for all players in the ecosystem by establishing a more competitive market structure in Türkiye in the field of card payments, which is becoming more important day by day.”
