Mastercard, Rivals Face Fines in UK Over Welfare Payments 'Cartel'

--U.K. Payment Systems Regulator said Mastercard and two rivals face fines of more than GBP32 million

--Regulator provisionally found that five companies engaged in cartel behavior

--Mastercard said it has put further controls and training in place

By Adria Calatayud

The U.K.'s Payment Systems Regulator said Wednesday that it has provisionally found that Mastercard Inc. and four rivals engaged in cartel behavior in a case relating to prepaid cards used by local authorities to distribute welfare payments.

The regulator said Mastercard, allpay and Prepaid Financial Services--owned by EML Payments Ltd.--agreed to pay maximimum fines totaling more than 32 million pounds ($44 million) as part of a settlement in which they admitted that they took part in the alleged anticompetitive arrangement.

The PSR said it found these three companies, in addition to APS and Sulion, infringed competition law by agreeing not to compete or poach each other's clients. One alleged infringement took place between 2012 and 2018 and involved all five parties, and another lasted two years between 2014 and 2016 and involved APS and Prepaid Financial Services, the regulator said.

"By colluding in this way, we consider the parties were acting as a cartel," PSR Managing Director Chris Hemsley said.

The regulator said it has sent a statement of objections to the five parties, which can now make representations on the provisional findings. The potential fines are subject to the PSR ultimately concluding that there have been infringements, it said.

Mastercard said it has put further controls and training in place to ensure the issue--which the company said was isolated to U.K. prepaid cards--can't occur again, while working with the regulator to settle the matter.

"Mastercard is committed to upholding all regulatory and legal standards and we apologise that the actions of two former employees resulted in the standards expected of us not being met in this instance," it said.

EML--which completed its acquisition of Prepaid Financial Services last year--said it has agreed to pay a maximum fine of around GBP920,000 and that it worked with regulators to solve the issue. The company said it doesn't expect a financial impact given that it had withheld GBP5 million from the vendors of Prepaid Financial Services to settle any financial penalties arising from the probe.

Allpay said it informed the PSR immediately after it became aware of potential breaches of competition law and has cooperated fully with the investigation.

APS said the investigation concerns alleged competition issues in a market the company exited more than five years ago and which represented a small proportion of its revenue. The company said it is confident its activities didn't cause any customer or market detriment, and that it will continue to cooperate with the regulator.

Sulion couldn't be reached for comment.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2021 05:59 ET (09:59 GMT)

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