Visa and Mastercard threatened with potential £5bn UK lawsuit over fees
Summary
Law firms Harcus Parker and Hausfeld have applied to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal to bring a group claim against Visa and Mastercard over interchange fees charged to businesses since October 2020. The claim could be worth about £5bn, but the application must succeed and a case could take years to resolve.Key Facts
- The claim alleges that Visa and Mastercard set interchange fees that reduce competition and lead UK businesses to pay excessive charges on card transactions.
- Interchange fees are paid by businesses through their banks when customers use debit, credit or prepaid cards.
- The claim seeks to recover fees charged over six years, plus interest; sources close to it estimate a value of about £5bn.
- If approved, about 1 million UK businesses, organisations and charities with revenues below £100m would be included unless they opt out.
- Larger businesses would need to opt in and could claim tens of millions of pounds.
- Bench Walk Advisors is funding the claim. Stephen Allen is leading it.
- Mastercard called the claim speculative and said interchange fees support the UK payments system. Visa said interchange is important to a secure digital payments system.
- Visa and Mastercard agreed last year to pay a combined $167.5m to settle a U.S. lawsuit over ATM access fees.
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