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<\/div>\nTwo of the world’s largest credit card companies have lost their bid to assess fees on retailers in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
Britain’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Visa Inc.<\/a> and Mastercard Inc., affirming a lower court ruling that the mandated payments restricted competition, the court announced<\/a> on Wednesday (June 17).<\/p>\n In its 83-page ruling, the justices ruled in favor of London-based Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd., one of the nation’s largest grocery store chains with 1,415 stores.<\/p>\n The case dates back to 2016, when Sainsbury and other retailers filed suit<\/a> against Visa and Mastercard alleging that they charged excessive credit and debit card<\/a> fees in violation of the country’s anti-competitive rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n At issue is the use of so-called interchange fees charged by banks at rates set by the card companies each time a shopper used a credit card.<\/p>\n “This marks the first substantial award in a competition damages claim in the UK, and we believe in Europe,” Sarah Houghton, a lawyer at Mishcon de Reya advising the supermarket chain, told Bloomberg News. “It has an importance well beyond the precedent it sets for claims against the Mastercard and Visa schemes.”<\/p>\n Mastercard’s appeal to the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) was denied later that year. CAT ruled the financial services company must pay judgement. That ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n The claims follow a U.S. settlement in 2012 in which Visa and Mastercard agreed to pay U.S. retailers $7.25 billion, the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history, PYMNTS reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mastercard told Bloomberg the decision was not a final ruling.<\/p>\n “There will be further court hearings to determine the key issues,” a Mastercard spokeswoman told the news service. These hearings will most likely take place in 2021.”<\/p>\n This latest chapter in the dispute allows the supermarkets to proceed to a trial on the size of the damages, the judges said in their unanimous ruling Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n “The fixing of interchange fees by Mastercard and its network members over many years was an unlawful infringement of competition law,” Kate Pollock, a lawyer for the supermarket told Bloomberg said in a statement.<\/p>\n Representatives for Visa did not respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Tags:<\/b> Pymnts<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See Campaign: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.pymnts.com\/legal\/2016\/mastercard-must-pay-sainsburys-68m\/<\/a>
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Two of the world’s largest credit card companies have lost their bid to assess fees on retailers in the United Kingdom. Britain’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., affirming a lower court ruling that the mandated payments restricted competition, the court announced on Wednesday (June 17). In its 83-page ruling, the justices ruled … Continue reading UK Supreme Court Rules Mastercard, Visa Violated Anti-Competition Laws<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading