MasterCard was told yesterday it faces daily fines of up to $316,000 (€219,000) unless it slashes the cross-border fees it charges for credit and debit card payments.

The credit card company was told by the European Commission it was in breach of competition rules by charging excessively high interchange fees which inflated costs to both retailers and consumers. Interchange fees are paid between banks servicing vendors and the banks servicing the cardholder.