Australia Visa Undertakes Tender

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.The ACCC was concerned that Visas strong market position in the credit card acceptance market could be leveraged to limit competition in the debit card acceptance market by tying the offer of cheaper strategic merchant rates for credit card transactions to a commitment from the merchant to process Visa branded dual network debit card transactions via the Visa network and not through eftpos ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.Visa credit cards are a must have form of payment for many Australian merchants.Since 2017 merchants have been able to choose whether contactless payments made using a Visa branded dual-network debit card are processed by Visa or eftpos.The ACCC was concerned that Visas dealings with merchants could influence their choice of debit card network and diminish competition between Visa and eftpos in relation to debit card acceptance Mr Sims said.In its undertaking Visa acknowledged the ACCCs concerns but made no admissions of any breach of the competition laws. Visas undertaking means that it cannot offer strategic merchant rates for credit card payments to merchants on condition that the merchant processes debit card payments through the Visa network Mr Sims said.The undertaking also ensures that merchants can make decisions about which debit card network processes Visa branded dual-network debit card payments without Visa increasing the cost of processing their Visa credit cards payments as a consequence.Australian consumers use debit cards every day when buying goods or services and COVID-19 has accelerated the transition from cash to card payments. With this in mind the importance of competition in card acceptance markets is vital to both merchants and consumers alike Mr Sims said.This undertaking is an important step to ensuring that Visa and other debit card network providers are able to compete on their merits to provide debit card acceptance services to merchants.