MasterCard Loses Battle Against EU Ban on Cross-Border Card Fees

MasterCard has lost its appeal against a European Union ban on cross-border card fees. The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld a 2007 decision which found that MasterCard's cross-border interchange rates at the time violated EU competition law. Since then, MasterCard reached an agreement with European regulators to cap fees for cross-border transactions at 0.2% for debit cards and 0.3% for credit cards. MasterCard says it opposes the fixed caps on these fees, as they could result in consumers paying higher fees to their bank, but will continue to comply with the decision, which Javier Perez, president of MasterCard Europe, called disappointing.