Competition in payments markets, investigating allegations of anti-competitive conduct, and protecting the interests of consumers will be the focus of the ACCC’s financial services enforcement and policy work over the next year, ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said in a speech to the Australian Financial Review Banking Summit today.
“Payment systems, services and competitors are rapidly evolving,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.
The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court against Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd and Mastercard Asia/Pacific (Australia) Pty Ltd (together, Mastercard), for allegedly engaging in conduct with the purpose of substantially lessening competition in the supply of debit card acceptance services.
Mastercard’s alleged anti-competitive conduct commenced in late 2017 in the context of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s least cost routing initiative.
The ACCC will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Citigroup Australia Pty Limited’s Australian consumer business (Citi) by National Australia Bank Limited (ASX: NAB) after a review found the transaction would not substantially lessen competition.
NAB and Citi overlap in the supply of consumer banking products and services, including credit cards, personal loans, wealth management and investment products, transaction and savings accounts and home loans in Australia.
The ACCC has granted interim authorisation to allow the Australian Banking Association (ABA) and banks to continue to work together on a variety of existing COVID-19 related relief packages, so they can respond to any further outbreaks as required.
The majority of money remitters reviewed by the ACCC are now giving consumers the tools they need to easily compare the total price of international money transfers.
The ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Visa AP (Australia) Pty Ltd and Visa Worldwide Pte Limited (together, Visa) in relation to concerns that Visa may have limited competition in relation to debit card acceptance through its dealings with large merchants.