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MasterCard is celebrating victory in a six-year battle with the OFT over
interchange fee arrangements after the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT)
reversed a previous OFT judgment.
The company says the tribunal quashed the ruling after the OFT sought to
withdraw its original decision, made last September.
The decision stated that interchange fees set collectively by MasterCard UK
Members Forum (MMF), which includes most of the company's UK customer banks,
between March 2000 and November 2004 infringed competition rules.
Commenting on the decision, MasterCard General Counsel, Noah Hanft, said:
"MasterCard has always maintained that these interchange fees, and the manner in
which they were established, were entirely lawful because, among other things,
they enabled MasterCard's credit card business in the UK to compete effectively
with other payment providers."
MasterCard claims the OFT has told the CAT that it will not initiate further
proceedings against its pre-November 2004 arrangements, but the
watchdog will continue to investigate MasterCard's current fee structure in the
UK, which is set by the company's management.
The OFT said in October that a collective interchange agreement between Visa and
its member banks has resulted in an unduly high fee being paid to card issuing
banks by merchant acquirers on every Visa transaction. The card association is
appealing the ruling.
MasterCard has asked the CAT to award it costs in connection with the appeal.
Source:
Getting Paid
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