EU Challenges French Banks, Cartes Bancaires
The European Commission has announced it has sent a statement of objections to nine major French banks and Groupement des Cartes Bancaires relating to certain fees and rules regarding the issuance of CB cards in France that the Commission believes may limit competition.
The Commission sent its statement of objections to Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (GCB) and to the following banks, which are all members of its Board of Directors: BNP-Paribas, Caisses d’Epargne, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, CIC, Crédit Lyonnais, La Poste, Natexis Banques Populaires and Société Générale.GCB is a groupement d’intérêt économique (economic interest grouping) under French law which manages the French payment card system (CB cards, but also Visa and MasterCard cards issued in France). It comprises some 155 banks.
The Commission’s statement of objections in no way challenges the legitimacy of GCB as the joint and effective operator of the CB card payment system in France. In the Commission’s view, the agreement prevents new entrants from offering consumers CB cards at a lower price and restricts technical innovation by limiting the issuance of CB cards with new functions.
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