A service fee that Visa places on its largest debit card issuers that essentially deterred them from moving their business to a competitor is unlawful and must be repealed, a judge has ruled.
Credit card network operator and Visa rival MasterCard Inc said on Friday US Federal Judge Barbara Jones ruled on Thursday that Visa's fee, which was implemented after a lawsuit was settled in 2003, was unlawful.
The service fee required Visa's 100 largest issuers of debit cards to pay a "settlement service fee" if they reduce their Visa debit volume by more than 10 percent. MasterCard claimed that effectively prevented those issuers from switching their business to MasterCard.
Visa was not immediately available to comment.
"This is a significant win for MasterCard and its customers," said Noah Hanft, MasterCard general counsel. "With this roadblock out of the way, financial institutions will not be deterred by this coercive fee and can make decisions based on their best judgment about quality of service, strength of brand and other competitive factors that benefit their cardholders."
MasterCard said the judge also ordered that all of Visa's top 100 debit card issuers could terminate their agreements with Visa if they were signed while the fee was being levied and wish to switch.
In response to the ruling, Visa said it was weighing its legal options, which may include an appeal.
"Since Visa enacted the settlement service fee, competition for debit card issuance has remained vibrant. Debit wins by MasterCard demonstrate that Visa's Settlement Service Fee has not prevented members from issuing MasterCard debit cards. We are confident our issuers are committed to Visa's debit products due to the strong value they offer, not the Settlement Service Fee," the company said.
In 2003, Visa International's US unit and MasterCard settled a merchant lawsuit initiated by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS