Mastercard to incur $650 million fourth-quarter charge for EU antitrust fine

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Mastercard (MA.N) will incur a $650 million charge in the fourth quarter of this year because of a substantial fine related to a second EU antitrust investigation, the world’s second largest payments network operator said on Tuesday.

The European Commission three years ago accused the company of having rules which blocked banks in one EU country from offering lower interchange fees to a retailer in a second EU country.