The ongoing five-year fight between card schemes and retailers concerns the so-called interchange fees levied by banks at rates set by the card companies each time a customer swipes a card at the POS.
A ruling will could levy billions of dollars in claims on Mastercard and Visa. Mastercard faces 10 lawsuits filled by UK retailers, which amount to USD 2 billion in claims, according to Bloomberg.
Visa is seeking to uphold a 2017 ruling by Judge Stephen Phillips, who said the transactions are legal. But the retailers are hoping the appeals court sides with a group of specialty antitrust judges who in 2016 ruled that Mastercard owed Sainsbury’s 69 million pounds (USD 99 million).
The appeal court hearing is scheduled to last 10 days.
The case is Sainsbury’s v. Visa Europe, Court of Appeal.
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