London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Mastercard and Visa to be hit with £7.5bn compensation claim

Mastercard and Visa to be hit with £7.5bn compensation claim

Harcus Parker, the law firm behind the latest compensation claim against the two payments behemoths, believes it could amount to well over £10bn.
The global payment giants Mastercard and Visa are facing the latest in a string of multibillion-pound competition lawsuits with the launch of a potentially vast class action claim on behalf of British companies.

Sky News has learnt that Harcus Parker, a London-based commercial litigation law firm, is close to filing what it believes will be among the biggest competition compensation claims in UK history.

The filing, at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), will allege that Mastercard and Visa overcharged businesses for so-called multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), which are paid by businesses to their banks to accept payment by credit or debit card.

MIFs are estimated to comprise as much as 90% of the cost of a typical company's monthly bank charge.

The claim will argue that these fees are set by Mastercard and Visa themselves, rather than by market forces, and are imposed on banks as a condition of their participation in the two companies' card schemes.

Harcus Parker declined to comment on the prospective size of the action against the two card giants, but one source said they expected that £7.5bn was the minimum figure they expected, and that it could ultimately be worth close to double that sum.

"We are standing up for UK businesses - big and small - and demanding that they be properly compensated," Thomas Ross, a partner at Harcus Parker, told Sky News.

"These fees are unlawful and should be abolished."

The Harcus Parker case is fully insured and is being funded by the major litigation funder BenchWalk Advisers.

Businesses with an average annual pre-pandemic turnover of at least £100m will be invited to opt in to the claim, while those with revenue below that level and which have registered online will be automatically included unless they choose to opt out.

Harcus Parker has selected a claim period from 2017 to the date of judgement award - or settlement.

The latest case follows one submitted by the same law firm last year which was focused on businesses in the travel and hospitality sectors, and alleged that Mastercard and Visa overcharged for corporate and foreign card fees.

ABTA and UK Hospitality, the trade bodies, backed the earlier claim and are among those expected to endorse the latest action.

A string of other major lawsuits have been filed against the two payments behemoths in recent years involving major retailers and other consumer-facing businesses.

The duo have already settled a number of claims for overcharged interchange fees.

Mastercard and Visa have also faced criticism for hiking fees for UK consumers since the Brexit referendum.

They are now at the centre of a cross-border fees probe by the Payment Systems Regulator.

Mastercard and Visa declined to comment.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×