UK businesses launch £5bn lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard
UK businesses file £5bn lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard, alleging excessive fees since October 2020 in a collective legal claim.
Visa and Mastercard are now facing a potential £5 billion legal claim in the UK, which accuses them of imposing excessive fees on businesses since October 2020. Law firms Harcus Parker and Hausfeld have submitted a formal request to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to advance a collective lawsuit against the two payment networks.
The claim focuses on multilateral interchange fees, which Visa and Mastercard set and then pass along to merchants through their banks with every card transaction. The argument centers on the lack of competition, which the claimants say has left businesses exposed to inflated charges on debit, credit, and prepaid cards. A successful outcome could lead to the recovery of fees charged over the past six years, including interest on those amounts.
The total value of the claim is estimated at around £5 billion, based on the number of businesses allegedly affected between 2020 and 2026. The litigation is being funded by Bench Walk Advisors, a London-based firm specializing in financing legal actions. The case is being led by Stephen Allen, a former executive in the travel industry who has previously pursued similar legal challenges against Visa and Mastercard beginning in 2021.
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If the tribunal approves the claim, it would automatically cover up to 1 million UK businesses, charities, and organizations with annual revenues below £100 million, unless they choose to opt out. Smaller businesses could receive compensation in the thousands, while larger firms would need to actively participate and could potentially recover tens of millions over the claim period.
A spokesperson for Mastercard defended the interchange fees, saying the potential group claim was “speculative” and part of a “growing trend of opportunistic funder-backed litigation”. The company insists that interchange fees are vital to the UK’s payment infrastructure, ensuring both security and efficiency for merchants and consumers. Visa has also defended its fee structure, arguing that it is necessary to uphold a reliable digital payments system.
The legal action follows a $167.5 million settlement reached by Visa and Mastercard in the US last year, after being accused of colluding to raise ATM fees—a case that was first filed in 2011. Meanwhile, the UK government has proposed measures to limit funder-backed litigation, a move Mastercard suggests is directly responsive to claims like this one.
