Anti-Competitive Interchange Fees: New Ruling Likely To Have Big Impact

Summary and implications

On 14 July 2016, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) handed down its judgment finding MasterCard had infringed EU/UK competition law by setting a default level for card fees between banks known as "multilateral interchange fees" (MIF), thereby restricting competition in the market for acquiring payment card transactions in the UK. The CAT awarded Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd (Sainsbury's) £68.6m in damages. This is an important decision and is likely to have a wide-reaching impact. Notably, a number of cases have been stayed pending its outcome. The decision is also interesting in that it provides guidance on the so-called "passing-on" defence and has some interesting commentary on the use and management of expert evidence.