MercadoLibre, Latin America’s largest company by market value, has filed a legal complaint with Argentina’s National Commission for the Defense of Competition, accusing banks of engaging in anti-competitive tactics through its shared platform MODO, which was launched in late 2020, Bloomberg reported.
MercadoLibre said the 36 banks behind MODO formed a cartel to avoid competition among their digital wallets, and said the banks' coordinated behavior was aimed at harming the fintech industry and its users.
MercadoLibre also noted that MODO’s goal is to coordinate a commercial distribution channel to circumvent competition, rather than just being used for person-to-person transfers like the U.S.-based Zelle platform.