BC Card pushed into Visa-UnionPay fray

BC Card will file a complaint against Visa with the Fair Trade Commission over its unfair transaction activities by end-June.

This was revealed by an official of South Korea-based BC Card to Xinhua.

Visa fined BC Card 100,000 U.S. dollars for not processing international transactions through the VisaNet payment system.

BC Card said Visa forcefully withdrew 50,000 dollars from its settlement account as it used the network established between BC Card and China UnionPay for international transactions.

Chinese holders of UnionPay card co-branded with BC Card do not have to pay the normal 1 % service charge for transactions

in South Korea, but Visa imposed fines on BC Card over not using the VisaNet system.

Another fine of 50,000 dollars was imposed on BC Card as the local card issuer processed international transactions through the

network set up between BC Card and Star Network, a U.S. automated teller machine firm.

Visa has been locked in battle with China UnionPay over royal payments for one year.

Back in June 2010, Visa said it will stop banks from using China UnionPay's payment system to settle international transactions for

co-branded Visa and UnionPay credit cards, warning penalties will be charged if they do not obey the rule.

Visa argued that it was simply enforcing its existing regulations that require global transactions to be processed through the VisaNet system, adding it was not specific to China UnionPay.

In response to that, the banking card association said Visa does not have the right to block the use of its own payment network for dual-currency credit cards abroad.

China UnionPay also noted it is unfair to pay royalties for co- branded credit cards to settle domestic transactions.