FTC Tackles Debit-Card Networks, Access
With no let-up for the holidays, the FTC today charged that MasterCard violated both the Durbin Amendment and FRB rules (see FSM Report INTERCHANGE11) mandating that merchants be given the choice of competing debit-card networks and that no efforts be made to block them from doing so. The order applies to the competing ecommerce network by virtue of Mastercard’s tokenizing practices, which the FTC concluded impeded merchant access in numerous improper ways. The consent order requires MasterCard to give competing networks the customer information necessary to process the debit-card transaction and bans Mastercard from barring use of other tokens.