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Visa shares fell sharply during Friday afternoon trading after a report said the Justice Department opened an investigation into its debit card activities and possible anti-competitive practices.
The department’s antitrust arm has begun to gather information as to whether Visa, the largest card network in the United States, has limited merchants’ ability to route debit card transactions over cheaper networks, according to unnamed sources associated with The Wall Street. Journal spoke.
Those sources added that DOJ researchers’ questions focus on online debit card transactions, but also questions about in-store issues.
Visa, which had seen its shares under pressure earlier Friday, dropped abruptly from about $ 218.50 a share to about $ 209 a share at around 11:30 a.m. in New York after the Journal’s report. Due to his losses, the stock fell by about 5% during the session.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Visa declined to comment.
The probe focuses on the role of network charges, fees that payment processors bill to merchants in exchange for access to the processor’s extensive network, the report said.
Investigators will try to determine whether Visa’s reimbursement policy unlawfully gives it unfair market dominance, the Journal found.