The Interbank Electronic Payment Center (CMI) and its nine shareholder banks have submitted a proposal for commitments to the Competition Council, as part of the complaint filed by NAPS. The objective of these commitments is to dismantle the dominant position of the CMI in the market for electronic card payments, in particular via electronic payment terminals (TPE) and online payment (PEL), and to ensure fairer competition. in the sector, indicates the magazine Finances News Hebdo.
Despite the opening of the market to competition in 2015 by Bank Al-Maghrib, the CMI maintains a quasi-monopoly position, holding more than 97% of the market share. “The company NAPS therefore contacted the Competition Council in May 2023, citing anti-competitive practices in the card payment sector.», we recall.
After investigation, the Council considered that the referral was admissible. The commitments proposed by the CMI and its shareholder banks were judged “substantial, credible and verifiable» by the Competition Council. This involves the transfer of merchant membership contracts to card payment systems (TPE and PEL) for the benefit of payment establishments or specialized banking subsidiaries, the cessation of canvassing new customers for these services and the reduction of interchange commissions, in order to reduce merchants’ costs and encourage the development of electronic payments.
«The CMI will, however, continue to operate as a technical platform, offering its services to all market participants under transparent and non-discriminatory pricing and non-pricing conditions.», we read again. The CMI shareholder banks, for their part, undertake to acquire, through their payment institutions or dedicated subsidiaries, all merchant contracts linked to card systems.
They will ensure that their specialized entities benefit from legal and economic autonomy, an essential condition for promoting healthy competition. The CMI will therefore be transformed into a technical processing platform on behalf of all market players.
This new organization should make it possible to stimulate competition in the electronic card payment market, offering merchants a wider choice of service providers and contributing to the development of this sector. Stakeholders can submit their observations until October 30, 2024. After this consultation phase, the implementation of the aforementioned commitments will be mandatory.
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