Het Financieele Dagblad (paid access) and the IHT report that the European Commission has issued a statement of objection to nine French banks and their collective organisation: Groupement des Cartes Bancaire (GCB) of forming a cartel to prevent market entry in the market for payment cards.
Good news is that the Commission's press release also reads:
The Commission’s statement of objections in no way challenges the legitimacy of GCB as the joint and effective operator of the CB card payment system in France.
So it's not a call for a different structural or institutional arrangement of the card industry.
