Argentina: CNDC moving forward against Credit Card operators

Argentina’s business community, affected by high financial costs, have launched a new offensive against what they deem abusive behaviour by banks by presenting a complaint before the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) for creating a de facto monopoly in the credit card market.

The move helps clarify the “dominant position” enjoyed by Prisma, the local owners of the Visa credit card system. The company currently holds 80% of the market making it the largest player by far in Argentina in the card issuing, transaction processing and financing sectors.

The Argentine Chamber of Commerce, in making its complaint before the CNDC, denounced the “abuse of dominance” employed by Prisma, which they claim charges the highest possible commission rate and has set an excessive exchange rate. “The market has to be cracked open to eliminate these abusive conducts, which create harm both to consumers and to businesses and service providers, the majority of which are small businesses” said the CAC.

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