The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Visa and Mastercard security tokens restrict debit-card routing competition on online payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The FTC for the past few years has already been probing whether Visa and Mastercard block merchants from routing payments over other debit-card networks. The networks acknowledged an FTC probe in regulatory filings in recent years.
"A Justice Department investigation on whether Visa has unlawfully maintained a dominant market share in debit cards is ongoing, according to people familiar with the matter."