Duel of the credit cards as Amex confronts Visa

ANTI competitive sales practises in the iron, steel and cement industries have all been accused of being in breach of the free trade provisions of the Treaty of Rome. This week plastic can be added to the list, not tacky chairs or the extruded stuff used for commercial packaging but the plastic society increasingly used as an alternative to hard cash - the credit card.

Two of the biggest operators in the credit business, American Express and Visa, are at logger heads over what constitutes free and fair competition. American Express (Amex) this week filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging Visa has been bending more than the plastic in a proposed by law which would prohibit banks which issue Visa International cards from also handling Amex business. Visa naturally expresses surprise at the complaint, saying it would not knowingly contravene EU law. The American company hopes the EU will admonish Visa with a slap on the wrist. For Amex that do very nicely.