WIREDGOV

The CMA is consulting on undertakings offered by Mastercard to address competition concerns arising from its purchase of VocaLink

Last month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it would look in detail at whether the undertakings offered by Mastercard UK Holdco Limited, an affiliate of MasterCard International Incorporated, (Mastercard) and VocaLink Holdings Ltd (VocaLink) remove the need to carry out an in-depth merger investigation.

The CMA is now consulting formally on whether the proposals are sufficient to address its competition concerns before reaching a final decision. Interested parties are invited to submit their responses by 11 March 2017.

Mastercard and VocaLink have offered a package of measures which consists of:

• VocaLink making its existing network connectivity available to a new supplier of infrastructure services to LINK. This could allow a competitor to use VocaLink’s connectivity to members of the LINK ATM network, rather than having to build their own.
• VocaLink transferring to LINK the intellectual property rights relating to the LINK LIS5 messaging standard, which members of the network use to communicate when customers use cash machines.
• Mastercard contributing to the cost to LINK members of changing to a new supplier of infrastructure services to LINK.

The CMA has until 15 March 2017 to consider whether to accept the undertakings, or a modified version of them.

The consultation on the undertakings and all other information relating to this merger investigation can be found on the case page.