Ankara: Trkiye's Competition Authority announced on Friday that it had initiated an investigation into major global card payment system firms Mastercard and Visa. The probe aims to determine whether these companies prevented payment institutions from offering services to merchants abroad.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Competition Board's statement highlighted concerns regarding potential violations of competition rules. The investigation seeks to establish if Mastercard and Visa complicated the operations of payment service providers by disallowing the use of payment/POS infrastructure by overseas businesses. This infrastructure is provided by banks operating under Trkiye's Banking Law no 5411.

The board explained that payment institutions in Trkiye have the ability to offer services to consumers making payments to foreign merchants through bilateral agreements. These agreements enable international payment transactions to be localized, allowing them to proceed without incurring Mastercard or Visa's cross-border transaction fees.

Preliminary findings from on-site investigations indicate that Mastercard and Visa may have obstructed activities of payment institutions with bilateral agreements. This was allegedly achieved through methods such as imposing sanctions on banks, citing violations of scheme rules set by the card companies.

As a result, the investigation will scrutinize allegations that Mastercard and Visa hindered the usage of card payment/POS infrastructure by foreign merchants and excluded alternative payment solutions. The authority emphasized that launching an investigation does not imply that the involved parties have violated the relevant law or will face sanctions.