Marcos Galeprín declared himself in default by disobeying the BCRA resolution of April 30, which established the interoperability between QR codes that until now were exclusive to Mercado Pago, the virtual wallet of the Mercado Libre company.
Now the banks formally denounced it before the National Securities Commission (CNV) for abuse of dominant position. The formal presentation was made by Modo, a digital wallet founded and controlled by the country’s main financial entities, Macro, Santander, BBVA, Galicia, ICBC, Nación and Ciudad. Mode is the mainly affected by the contempt of one of the “charrúaas”, as the rest of the local business community nicknames the Argentines exiled in Uruguay who perceive themselves expelled by populist policies.
The banks’ accusation is for “anticompetitive abuse of their dominant position to the detriment of multiple market actors, including competitors, businesses and consumers.” The banking entities claim to have “a large number of evidence and compelling documents that clearly demonstrate the abusive and exclusive conduct carried out by Mercado Libre SRL, Mercado Pago Servicios de Procesamiento SRL and Mercado Libre, Inc.”
The argument is that “the dominant player in the market imposes on its users the tied sale of its services.” According to the complainants, this is what happens when users of the Mercado Libre marketplace, sellers and buyers, are subject to making the purchase only through Mercado Pago services, both to pay or collect.
This causes the Mercado Libre transaction to be inherently combined with a Mercado Pago transaction. “This tied sale allows anti-competitive leverage in multiple network effects, seriously restricting the freedom of choice of businesses and consumers,” they stated from Modo.
In the case of online businesses, having the service of MODO does not imply additional costs or commissions: they remain the same as when charging with debit or credit cards. On the other hand, in Mercado Pago the cost of using it as a payment method depends on the means used: Point reader, QR Code, Payment Link or Checkout); the period chosen to have the money available, and the means of payment used in each collection: credit card, debit card or money in account.
It is also worth highlighting the existence of an increasingly inhabited universe of virtual wallets such as the developments of Banco Nación with BN+ and that of Banco Provincia Cuenta DNI; those that offer fintech such as Cocos Capital or Ualá; that of companies such as Personal Pay and Mi Tienda Nube or issuing entities such as Carretera Naranja, to cite some other examples.
