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FMI – The Food Industry Association released the following comments from Hannah Walker, vice president of political affairs, on the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court decision against Mastercard, Visa in unlawful payment schemes:                                

“The United Kingdom’s (U.K.) Supreme Court ruled today that the Visa and Mastercard payment card schemes were unlawful and violated both European Union and UK competition laws. The Court found what the food industry has long argued, global credit card brands’ interchange schemes are inherently anticompetitive. While this is an important development in Europe, it further highlights the need for reform in the U.S. interchange fee structure. 

According to the Nilson Report, American merchants, who pay the highest interchange fees in the world, paid $67.9 billion in fees just to accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards in 2019, which is more than half the total $116 billion in fees paid for all electronic transactions. With the emphasis on touchless and online transactions during this COVID-19 emergency, we know the fees number will skyrocket in 2020. FMI calls on the U.S. Government to take swift action to reform unfair interchange fees immediately.”