UK Regulator Fines Five Companies GBP33 Million Over Card Collusion
January 18 2022 - 4:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Hoppe
A U.K. regulator has fined five companies more than 33 million
pounds ($45 million) for agreeing not to compete or poach each
other's customers in the country's prepaid-cards market.
The Payment Systems Regulator said it has fined Mastercard Inc.
GBP31.6 million, with the rest of the fines levied on Prepaid
Financial Services Ltd., allpay, Advanced Payment Solutions and
Sulion Ltd. after concluding the parties infringed competition
law.
The prepaid cards were used by U.K. local authorities to
distribute welfare payments to vulnerable members of society, such
as the homeless, asylum seekers and domestic violence victims.
The investigation was opened in October 2017, after allpay made
a complaint to the regulator. The regulator found two
market-sharing cartels, one of which was run from 2012 to 2018 and
involved all parties--though some for less than the whole
period--and the other run for two years by Advanced Payment and
Prepaid Financial.
"This case is particularly serious because the illegal cartel
behavior meant there was less competition and choice for local
authorities. This means they may have missed out on cheaper or
better-quality products which were used by some of the most
vulnerable in society," said Chris Hemsley, managing director of
the regulator.
Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 18, 2022 04:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
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