Four of the largest US merchant associations have joined the legal battle to force credit card issuers to lower the fees they charge for processing transactions.
The class action suit accuses Visa USA, MasterCard Inc and a number of major banks, including Citigroup Inc, Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase and Co, of engaging in collusive practices in setting their interchange fees. The suit seeks an injunction to stop the alleged collusion as well as damages, which weren't specified.
The suit was filed on Friday in federal court in New York and disclosed in a press release issued on Monday by the associations.
The plaintiffs -- the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Cooperative Grocers Association -- represent thousands of merchants in the US.
The suit is the latest of more than 30 legal actions filed over the past several months aimed at forcing the card associations and their member banks to cut interchange fees, which are paid by the merchants each time a customer uses a debit or credit card to pay for a purchase.
The fees ultimately are passed on to consumers by way of higher prices.
The merchants estimated that interchange fees cost the average US household about US$232 a year last year.
MasterCard International said in a statement issued on Monday that the suit "is without merit." It accused the merchants of "wanting the benefits of accepting payment cards without having to pay for the value of the services they receive."
Visa said that it "remains confident in its ability to defend interchange," which it said was "a fair mechanism" for sharing costs.
Both MasterCard and Visa noted that a federal judge in California last month dismissed one of several lawsuits brought by merchants over interchange.
Teri Richman, senior vice president for research and public affairs with the National Association of Convenience Stores, based in Alexandria, Virginia, said merchants were upset with "the unbridled increases" in interchange fees, which currently average 1.75 percent of a transaction's value. That is, if a customer spends US$100 on a card, the merchant must pay US$1.75 for processing.
That amount, she said, was 2.5 to 3 times the rate charged in Europe and Australia. Richman also said merchants believe the fees they are paying are being used to underwrite the mileage and reward programs sponsored by the card companies and issuing banks -- programs that the merchants don't profit from.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique