The sales practices of major banks in the payments processing market are the subject of a searing critique by Tyro Payments in a submission to the Financial System Inquiry.Using language that accuses major banks, in general, of breaching the Australian Consumer Law, Tyro lists nine "examples of anti-competitive behaviour".These include a major retail bank allegedly "explicitly stating 'we are trying to get Tyro out of the market'" to a sales prospect - who later relayed it to Tyro.In another instance "a retail chain terminated because as part of their funding overdraft facility the bank 'held a gun to their heads and insisted on having all acquiring'."In a third case, another longstanding Tyro merchant "terminated unexpectedly, because his funding requirements were in the millions. 'Given strict review points and milestones' he felt he needed to avoid any opportunity for strained relationships with the bank in case this negatively impacted one of his assessments."Tyro's only service is the "acquiring" of credit card and Eftpos transaction from merchants, which it switches to the card-holder's bank.It said there was often "the insinuation of reduced access to debt unless all transactional banking is bundled with the dominant bank."Tyro wrote in its submission that "these few extracted cases are based on conversations and email comments, but they all point to a situation where the major retail banks are able to use their privileged position in the deposit and thus loan market to inhibit competition in the acquiring business - actions which lead to a less productive economy over time." Tyro asserted it was "largely locked out of competing for businesses that have a bank relationship manager, because the dominant retail banks engage in competition stifling tactics such as bundling, packaging and cluster-pricing."Structural features of the market, including pricing by card payment schemes (meaning Eftpos as well as MasterCard and Visa) lead to a "result [such] that the big banks, all dominant issuer and acquirers, benefit from an increased issuer margin and can cross-subsidise the acquiring side. The small business community sees its costs of payment acceptance dramatically."Tyro has made inroads in niche markets since 2007 and demonstrated its credentials as an innovator. It claims 100 per cent uptime and is the leading provider of in-practice Medicare rebates. It says it was the first to offer an "all IP based, integrated 'pay at table' solution."Tyro also claims that its "architecture eliminates the exposure of sensitive cardholder and financial transaction data.""No Tyro merchant was featured in any of the card thefts that have happened to merchants with alternate legacy solutions."In a nod to the relevance of activist public policy to foster reform in the payments market, Tyro said it "would not have gained access to the banking system were it not for the significant support of the then Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority."Also receiving praise were "the then Minister of the Department of Human Services, Joe Hockey MP," for "insisting on sourcing Medicare rebating services through the