wnership share. The banks and other financial institutions that belong to one of the two card systems, however, also tend to belong to the other system. Further, both the Visa system and the Master Card system allow members banks and other financial institutions to issue both Visa and Master Card payment cards. The combination of the overlapping membership/ownership structures, together with the right of member banks and other financial institutions to issue both Visa and Master Card payment cards, creates, according to the federal government and competing payment card issuers, a duopoly, which means that Visa and Master Card do not really compete with one another. Rather, it is a situation wherein Visa and Master Card together compete against all other payment card issuers ("Is It a Carve-up" 73).
Both Visa and Master Card enforce a policy that prohibits member banks and other financial institutions from issuing and processing payment cards from other care issuers, such
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