Mastercard and Visa are facing collective lawsuits in the UK, over historical overcharging claims on multilateral interchange fees, with claims surpassing £4 billion.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved the action, allowing UK businesses to seek compensation for losses due to unlawfully high multilateral interchange fees (MIFs) on commercial card transactions.
These fees, which operate like a tax on businesses, have impacted sectors like retail, hospitality, and travel, significantly increasing costs for businesses.
The claim period covers June 2016 to June 2022, and businesses that accepted commercial card payments during that time may be eligible to join the lawsuit.
“We welcome the opportunity to hold Mastercard and Visa to account for imposing multilateral interchange fees at an unlawfully high level and causing substantial loss to UK businesses,” comments Jeremy Robinson, a partner at Harcus Parker Limited, representing the Class Representatives.
“We are pleased that this important claim will now proceed despite Mastercard and Visa’s attempts over the last two years to deny thousands of UK businesses a straightforward and effective route to justice through the Competition Appeal Tribunal.”
Trade organisations such as UK Hospitality and ABTA have backed the claims, highlighting the damaging impact of MIFs on businesses throughout the UK.
MIFs are paid by businesses through fees to their banks, known as acquiring banks, for accepting commercial card payments. Both the UK Supreme Court and the Court of Justice of the EU have previously ruled against similar practices by Mastercard and Visa.
The class action litigation aims to hold Mastercard and Visa accountable for these practices and to push for changes in how these fees are imposed.
By uniting businesses in the lawsuit, the hope is to recover significant financial losses and prevent future exploitation by the payment giants.
If successful, and it is a big If, the claims will provide substantial relief to the UK’s business sector, particularly in industries heavily affected by card transaction fees – although as has been seen in other markets, these savings are rarely passed onto consumers in those markets.
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