Visa is to sue American retailer Wal-Mart after it rejected the $7.25bn antitrust settlement in an interchange fee lawsuit that is continuing to rattle the US payment industry.
The original lawsuit began eight years ago and was triggered by complaints made by retailers over swipe fees charged to merchants when consumers pay with credit cards.
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Merchants claimed that card companies, such as Visa and MasterCard, were illegally fixing the fees.
A settlement was agreed in July 2012. However, nearly 8,000 merchants out of the 8m involved have opted out, arguing that the deal won’t pay enough in damages and will prevent US merchants from suing in the future.
Wal-Mart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said in a statement to Bloomberg: "We are disappointed that Visa chose to file this unwarranted and unsupportable lawsuit in retaliation for our decision to opt out and object to an unfair settlement agreement."
"The proposed settlement would allow credit card companies and big banks to perpetuate a broken system that costs consumers billions of dollars each year," he concluded.
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By GlobalDataVisa, MasterCard and other large banks in the US are now seeking a federal judge’s final approval for the settlement. The hearing is scheduled for September 12.
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