First there was the $7.25 billion interchange settlement that big chains mostly detested, largely because it would outlaw future interchange lawsuits. Then came a flurry of retailer lawsuits against Visa and MasterCard, charging that the card brands' fee rules violate antitrust law. Now three major UK retailers—Walmart's Asda, Morrisons and apparel group Arcadia—have sued Visa over interchange in London, and eight other retailers sued Visa separately at the same time.
Not to be left out, the European Union's financial services commissioner, Michel Barnier, unveiled plans on July 24 to cut interchange fees in the EU to 0.3 percent for credit card transactions and 0.2 percent for debit cards, which will eventually cut the retailer fees to Visa and MasterCard by about $8 billion a year. The interchange caps will initially apply to cross-border transactions, then be expanded to all card payments after 22 months (but no start date for that has been set).
