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Visa shares fell sharply during trading on Friday after a report reported that the Justice Department opened an investigation into its debit card business and possible anti-competitive practices.
The department’s antitrust division has begun gathering information on whether Visa, the largest card network in the United States, has reduced the ability of merchants to send debit card transactions over less expensive networks, according to unnamed sources. talk to The Wall Street Journal.
These sources added that questions from DOJ researchers are focused on online debit card transactions, but have also included inquiries about in-store issues.
Visa, which had seen its shares under pressure on Friday earlier, fell sharply from about $ 218.50 per share to about $ 209 per share around 11:30 a.m. in New York after the Journal report . Its losses dropped shares by about 5% in 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 tariffs, charges that payment processors bill merchants in exchange for access to the processor’s vast network, according to the report.
Investigators will try to determine whether Visa’s tariff policies illegally grant it unfair dominance in the market, the newspaper found.