BRUSSELS, Dec. 8 (Saba) -- The European Commission on Wednesday decided to end part of its anti-trust probe on Visa Europe after the company agreed to cut some of its fees for debit card payments, according to Xinhua.

Under the commitments of Visa Europe, the company will reduce its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) for debit card payments by 0.2 percent of the value of the transaction, which equals to a reduction of about 60 percent on average for domestic MIFs and 30 percent for cross-border MIFs.

Visa Europe also committed to maintain and further develop measures which would increase transparency and competition in the payment cards markets, according to a statement released by the European Commission.

"Lower inter-bank fees will trigger real benefits for merchants and consumers whilst more transparent rules will also improve competition in the cards markets," Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner in charge of competition policy, said in a statement.

Visa Europe's commitments will be legally binding for four years and the European Commission may re-assess the competitive situation on the market after they have expired.

Meanwhile, anti-trust investigation on consumer credit and deferred debit card transactions of Visa Europe will continue. The European Commission started anti-trust investigation against Visa Europe in April 2009.

Saba