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Paraguay: Central Bank blows whistle on international bank card monopoly

By  |  February 28, 2017

Paraguay’s Central Bank revealed this week a note sent to its president, Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, wherein payment processing company Bepsa accuses its competitor, Bancard, over alleged uncompetitive practices in the international credit and debit card processing sector.

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    Bepsa’s Operations Manager, Francesco Scavone, said that his firm had signed an alliance agreement with its rival Procard in 2002, which allowed both companies to compete on equal terms. “In 2012 Bancard bought Procard, meaning that all the transactions for international bank cards are processed and managed by a single, dominant group.”

    Bepsa’s transactions and all operations made using its ATM network must be authorized by its rival and former ally, Procard, as the license-holder for international card brands. “Since 2012 we depend on our competition, which has caused us to receive several complaints from clients when transactions are rejected with no explanation”, said Mr. Scavone.

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