Brussels, 30/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission confirmed that it had, on 23 June, sent a second Statement of Objections to MasterCard as it suspects MasterCard of restricting competition between banks. The Commission is concerned particularly about cross-border interchange fees. These are fees paid by merchant banks to card-issuing banks for over-the-counter payments with a MasterCard or Maestro branded payment card. The Commission considers these fees to be too high. It contends that this limits competition between banks, by setting in advance a minimum price that retailers have to pay for accepting MasterCard or Maestro. The Commission states, however, that the investigation does not prejudge the issue and that MasterCard will have access to the file and will have the opportunity to be heard in an oral hearing before the Commission decides whether it has indeed violated the EC Treaty's anti-trust rules. MasterCard's interchange fees are paid on all cross-border transactions in the EU and also for domestic transactions in nine Member States. Around 45% of all payment card transactions in the European Economic Area bear either the MasterCard or Maestro logo, and in 2004, 23 billion card payments were made in the EU, with an overall value of €1350 billion, says the Commission. The on-going investigation illustrates one of the problems identified by a wider investigation into competition in the financial services sector and, in particular, competition problems in bank card payments.