BUSINESS NEWS


Visa and Mastercard are being challenged for the bank interchange fees they levy on corporate card transactions


Card giants face £1.5bn claim for fees payback


Travel and hospitality sector could reap big figure from lawsuit. Ian Taylor reports However, the EU did not regulate


UK competition lawyers are poised to launch a class action lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard on behalf of travel and hospitality companies and other sectors seeking repayment of billions in card fees. The claim for travel and hospitality


alone could exceed £1.5 billion in repayment of ‘Multilateral Interchange Fees’ (MIFs) which make up most of the merchant service charge banks levy on card payments. The fees go to the banks, which pay Visa and Mastercard ‘scheme fees’, but the


48 7 APRIL 2022


fees are set by the card companies as a condition of participation in the card schemes. Specialist law firm Harcus Parker


will take the case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Jeremy Robinson, competition


litigation partner at Harcus Parker, said: “There has been a lot of litigation around these fees, most about consumers’ cards, and the EU introduced regulation which set maximum interchange fees at 0.2% for consumer debit cards and 0.3% for consumer credit cards.”


what happens with a corporate card or a card from outside Europe – a so-called ‘inter-regional’ transaction. Robinson noted: “Corporate card


fees average 1.5%. Inter-regional fees can be 1.8%. So a business handling a lot of corporate card payments is paying £1.50 in every £100 indirectly to Visa and Mastercard.” The card companies agreed in


2019 to reduce MIFs on inter-regional Continued on page 46 travelweekly.co.uk


BUSINESSNEWS


PICTURE: Shutterstock/Atstock Productions


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56