Mastercard is being investigated by the European Commission over fees charged for card transactions made by people visiting Europe. The Commission said some of the firm's "inter-bank fees and related practices may be anti-competitive". The commission is already investigating rival Visa over similar practices. Mastercard, which said it would "fully co-operate" with regulators, could be fined up to $740m, or 10% of its 2012 revenue, if found guilty. The credit card firm said that it always aimed "to balance the interests of both consumers and retailers".

'Crucial importance'
The investigation will examine payments made by people from outside the European Economic Authority (EEA) - the EU's 27-member states as well as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland - who use their credit and debit cards when inside the area. The EU said the main aim of its probe was to ensure consumers were not harmed. "When a US tourist uses a Mastercard to make a purchase in [the European Economic Area], these fees can be quite high, generally much higher than those paid in Europe," European Commission spokesman Antoine Colombani said. In 2007, a similar probe led to the Commission banning Mastercard from charging cross-border fees within the European Economic Area.....Read more here