  Visa, Mastercard agree to $7.25bn retail settlement July 14, 2012 - 13:25 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard and major US banks have agreed to a $7.25bn settlement to retailers over card fees, BBC News said. The case, which has been going on for seven years, is over firms colluding to fix the fees that stores pay to process credit and debt card payments. The settlement is thought to be the largest of its kind in US history. It involves a $6bn payment to stores and an agreement to reduce swipe fees for eight months, valued at $1.2bn. An additional $525 million has been set aside to pay to the stores which sued individually, including grocery chains Kroger and Safeway and the Rite Aid pharmacy chain. The settlement involves credit card giants Visa and Mastercard, as well as major US banks which issue their cards including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank. Craig Wildfang, the lead lawyer representing the merchants, told AFP: "Over time, the reforms induced by this case and in this settlement should help reduce card-acceptance costs to merchants, which in turn, will result in lower prices for all consumers." Visa and Mastercard already paid a combined $3bn to settle a lawsuit over their "honour all cards" policies, which tied acceptance of credit to debit cards. Partner news  Top stories “It’s a pity that instead of operating flights, airplanes with Armenian flags stand idle under the sun,” Ghazaryan said. The issue was discussed by Gazprom chief Alexey Miller and Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan. On Feb 23, 2012, Yerevan Jur CJSC issued application for decreasing water prices from current AMD 174,059 to AMD 166,044 per cubic meter. Finance Minister David Sargsyan met with the regional director of KfW German Development Bank Lars Oermann.   Partner news |  Latest news "Borat" scribe’s comedy "I Give It a Year" trailer unveiled (video)  The film follows a couple who get married after just 7 months of knowing one another, and every thinks they're a little bit crazy for doing so.Wikileaks founder Assange vows to stay in embassy “even if sex claims dropped” “We know there is an ongoing investigation in the US and we know I am a target of the Federal grand jury,” Assange said.Russia’s Putin warns against sending weapons to Syrian rebels Putin defended his decision to continue supplying weapons to the regime, which he said was no more than completing legal contracts.Thousands evacuated as fire hits ammunition depot in central Russia The incident is the latest in a string of fires and explosions at munitions storage and disposal sites that have plagued Russia in the past two years. |
