RILA Statement on Visa Mastercard Settlement

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, RILA, issued the following statement in response to the Visa, Mastercard settlement announced today on swipe-fees:

"This settlement is an acknowledgment that the credit card payment market has been broken, and for decades, VISA and Mastercard have used their duopoly to fleece retailers of all sizes by their abusive interchange fees and card network rules. Retailers, family restaurants, bars, yoga studios, dry cleaners, landscapers—essentially every business large and small, the fabric of America’s main street economy, has been systematically swindled by Wall Street.

"This settlement is a mere drop in the bucket. It proves that merchants deserve injunctive relief, but whether the settlement terms proposed are sufficient to remedy the harm caused by the current interchange system needs to be carefully reviewed. Leading retailers intend to study the terms of the settlement closely and reserve the right to object to the settlement deal if it comes up short on what merchants deserve.

"This settlement in no way removes the responsibility of Congress to fix an anticompetitive credit card market. Congress should complete the mission and pass the Credit Card Competition Act to bring true competition to a broken market."

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RILA is a trade association of the world’s largest, most innovative, and recognizable retail companies and brands.  RILA members include more than two hundred retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, who together employ over 42 million Americans and account for $2.7 trillion in annual sales and hundreds of thousands of stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad. 
 

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• Payments
• Finance
• Public Policy