Visa Europe has been warned that it could face fines if it does not reduce charges on overseas debit and credit card use.
The European Commission has told Visa Europe that it may face sanctions if it does not change its policy on cross-border debit and credit card use.
Currently, retailers which accept Visa cards from other European countries are hit by a multilateral interchange fees (MIFs). This extra cost results in inflated prices for consumers.
The commission has sent a "statement of objections" to the credit card firm, which "outlines the commission's preliminary view that Visa's MIFs harm competition between acquiring banks, inflate the cost of payment card acceptance for merchants and ultimately increase consumer prices".
However, Visa Europe chief executive Peter Ayliffe rejected the criticism. "We are extremely disappointed that having converged to a point where we were close to agreement on debit, the commission has decided to issue a statement of objections," he said
"We have held detailed negotiations with the commission and have agreed to follow their preferred economic model for justifying interchange rates."
Visa's products account for roughly 36 percent of all cards issued in the European Economic Area. More than five million retailers accept Visa cards across the region.
MasterCard had been under similar scrutiny from the European Commission but the investigation was cancelled following the former's promise to reduce its cross-border interchange fees.
