The Competition Tribunal dismissed a lawsuit by Multicaja S.A. (“Multicaja”) and Multitarjeta S.A. (Multitarjeta”) against Banco del Estado de Chile (“Banco Estado”), stating that the defendant did not have a dominant position in the relevant markets, therefore having been unable to commit the accused abuses of dominant position.
The Tribunal stated that the controversy concerns at least two product relevant markets: debit and credit card acquiring, and transaction processing for debit and credit cards. The Tribunal also determined that Multicaja and Multitarjeta were suppliers in these markets, while Banco Estado was a consumer.
According to the TDLC, acquiring and transaction processing services for Banco Estado’s “Cuenta RUT” card are not significantly different from acquiring and transaction processing services for other debit and credit cards in the market. Consequently, it was determined that Banco Estado was one of several issuers to whom the plaintiffs could offer their services. The plaintiffs could not prove that providing acquiring and transaction processing services to Cuenta RUT’s debit cards was necessary for them to be able to participate in the relevant markets.