The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has approved a business improvement plan submitted by Visa Worldwide, which undertakes Visa card operations in Japan and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region.
Through its investigation into a suspected violation of the antimonopoly law by Visa Worldwide, the JFTC concluded that swiftly executing proposed measures by the Singapore-based firm would restore a competitive environment under the so-called commitment procedures, the Japanese antimonopoly watchdog said in a press release Tuesday.
In credit card transactions, sales data are transmitted from acquirers, or companies that enables retailers to accept payments by card, to card issuers through settlement service networks. An acquirer should pay a certain rate of fees to an issuer unless they are the same.
The JFTC conducted an on-site inspection of Visa Worldwide's Japanese operation in July last year and has since found that the credit card operator notified acquirers in February 2018 of a plan to apply preferential rates to such fees only when they exclusively use the Visa Worldwide network and implemented the plan in November 2021. Some acquirers have actually come to take the advantage, according to people familiar with the matter.
The commission, which took an administrative step against an international credit card brand for the first time ever, believes that Visa Worldwide's practice amounts to a transaction with a restraint condition prohibited by the law. However, it decided to refrain from imposing a severer sanction on the firm.
"Better, cheaper networks should be provided through friendly competition between card companies," Masahiko Sogawa, a JFTC investigation division chief, said.
In a comment, the Visa Worldwide Japan unit vowed to carry out the improvement measures to keep complying with the law.
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