Morgan Stanley and Visa Europe have agreed to settle a long-running antitrust dispute, in a move that could bring to an end a six-year competition probe by the European Commission into the credit card group.

The dispute broke out after Visa refused to let Morgan Stanley join its card network. The US investment bank had wanted to offer card services to shops and merchants in the European Union. However, Visa denied it access to its network, pointing to the fact that Morgan Stanley runs the Discover card in the US in competition with Visa.