Credit card could not have carried on with lower fees

Visa’s debit card service would have ‘probably collapsed’ had it charged lower fees to merchants including Arcadia Group retailers, the High Court was told today (Thurs). The trial against Visa’s multilateral interchange fees (MIF) hinges on its alleged price-fixing in charging excessive fees to merchants, including Sainsbury’s and M&S. In 2013, 12 UK retailers lodged claims, followed by Sainsbury’s, Tesco and others, alleging Visa’s MIFs were anti-competitive. Tesco has recently settled their claim. The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s (CAT) ruling on…