Retailers Win Ruling With MasterCard and Visa

Tuesday, July 10th, 2018

Major retailers Sainsbury’s, Asda, Argos, and Morrisons have won their case against Visa Inc. MasterCard Inc., which was over fees imposed on customers’ payments via plastic. Are you a merchant in the UK? Do you need trustworthy retail merchant services reviews? Well, go on reading this article and you’ll know where you can get them.

UK Retailers Against Visa and MasterCard

Four of the UK’s biggest players in the retail industry have succeeded in their legal battle against fees imposed by the two payments giants, Mastercard and Visa. This has been a long dispute over the complicated system of interchange fees. Because of the system, consumers had to pay millions of pounds a year.

In turn, banks were passing on the fees to their retailer customers in the form of “merchant service charges.” The retailers had to decide whether to pass on the fees to their customers or not.

The Court of Appeal has recently ruled that these interchange fees paid by shops to banks each time a customer uses a credit/debit card broke the EU law.

Credit card payments fees were capped at 0.3% of each transaction. Debit card fees were capped at 0.2%. According to Judge Terence Etherton, the fees required by Visa and Mastercard restrict the competition and are unlawful.

This case against Visa and Mastercard has been the biggest competition appeal for years. In fact, thousands of retailers, their banks, as well as other credit card companies have been waiting for the mentioned decision by the Court of Appeal.

By the way, in 2017, Justice Popplewell dismissed the case by ruling the charges were necessary for the business operations of MasterCard and Visa and were below an objectionable level.

So, the retailers decided to appeal. Two of the appeals were brought from the Commercial Court and one from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). Mishcon and Morgan Lewis were representing Sainsbury. Asda, Argos, and Morrisons were advised by Stewarts. Mastercard was represented by Jones Day, and Visa by Linklaters.

Payment Giants on the Case: Retail Merchant Services Reviews

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What does MasterCard think about the case? According to the company’s spokesman, they’re reviewing the court’s judgment and figuring out what steps to take. However, they’re sure retailers get real value from their network and they focus on helping their retail partners grow their businesses. As the spokesman notes, they’re committed to encouraging the adoption of more convenient, safer and more secure payments.

By the way, Mastercard is currently discussing the issue of biometric payment cards with UK banks. The company is working on introducing them in the UK market.