Buenos Aires. Banks in Argentina denounced this Monday Mercado Pago, the virtual wallet of the Latin American online shopping giant Mercado Libre, for “anti-competitive maneuvers” for preventing its QR payment code from accepting payments from credit cards hosted in other digital wallets, among others. actions, confirmed the regulatory authority.
The complaint was presented to the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC) by the company Modo, a virtual wallet that brings together the main banks operating in Argentina. In it, it indicates that Mercado Pago does not comply with the regulations issued by the Central Bank (BCRA) last week on the interoperability of QR codes for payment with credit cards.
Currently, businesses that display a Mercado Pago QR code allow a person who has their credit or debit card loaded in this application to pay a bill with their phone. The BCRA decided that this QR allows other virtual wallets, such as Modo, to process such transactions.
“The QR codes displayed by businesses to charge with credit cards must allow customers to make payments with any digital wallet (bank or payment service provider), regardless of whether there is a brand match with the QR,” the BCRA ordered.
Modo demanded in his writing that this provision of the BCRA be complied with.
“The abusive conduct of Mercado Libre, detailed in the complaint, generates negative effects for the market, disproportionately maximizing its profits at the expense of contracting the value offer for users due to the lack of competition,” Santiago Eraso explained to the Infobae news portal. Lomáquiz, director of legal, compliance and public affairs at Modo.
In addition, the banks also claim that Mercado Libre does not accept payments on its “marketplace”, a shopping website, with wallets other than Mercado Pago and repudiate the fact that an account must be opened in the wallet to be able to buy or sell on the site.
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– 2024-05-09 07:04:41
