MercadoLibre ramps up fight with Argentine banks over QR payments

MercadoLibre

26/08/2024 18:32

* 
      MercadoLibre files complaint against MODO for cartel-like
behaviour
    

        * 
      MODO backed by 36 banks, including Banco Nacion,
Santander,
BBVA, HSBC
    

        * 
      MODO accused Mercado Pago of abusive practices in May
    

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       BUENOS AIRES, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Latin American
e-commerce giant MercadoLibre  MELI.O  said on Monday it had
filed a complaint with Argentine regulators against digital
wallet MODO backed by local banks, alleging cartel-like
behaviour and concentration of the market.
    MercadoLibre's fintech arm, Mercado Pago, offers its own
widely-used digital wallet, with an application to send and
receive mobile payments. Tension has been brewing between the
fintech platform and local banks over the last year.
    Mercado Pago's payment QR codes have become ubiquitous in
Argentine stores in recent years, and have helped propel
MercadoLibre to become Latin America's largest company by market
capitalization, now worth more than $100 billion.
    MercadoLibre accused MODO, a digital wallet backed by a
group of 36 banks, of operating a monopoly and of committing
acts which harmed the fintech industry and its users.
    Banks such as Argentina's Banco Nacion, as well as local
units of banking giants Santander, BBVA and HSBC, participate in
MODO. MODO itself accused Mercado Pago in May this year of using
abusive practices to dominate the market.
    MODO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    "The complaint against the major banks is for prohibited
concentration, cartelization and coordinated practices intended
to harm the fintech industry and its users," MercadoLibre said
in a statement.
    "The 36 banks that are part of the MODO wallet form a cartel
to avoid competing with each other with their own digital
wallets."
    MercadoLibre, founded by Argentine billionaire Marcos
Galperin, said that its complaint to the regulator "seeks to
guarantee a competitive framework for the development of better
financial tools."
    Earlier this year, MODO filed its own complaint against
MercadoLibre, alleging its "abusive practices" had allowed
Mercado Pago to scoop up 80% of Argentina's electronic retail
payments.   

 (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski; Writing by Kylie Madry, Editing
by William Maclean)
 ((mailto:eliana.raszewski@thomsonreuters.com; +54 11 4015-3820;
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