Visa and MasterCard face new UK lawsuits over merchant fees

LONDON (Reuters) - Global payments processors Visa and Mastercard must face a new set of lawsuits over fees charged to retailers, after a London tribunal ruled on Friday that collective cases brought on behalf of merchants can proceed.

The two firms already face a long list of lawsuits in London over multilateral interchange fees, which retailers pay when consumers use a card to shop.

Visa and Mastercard are each being sued by hundreds of claimants at London's Competition Appeal Tribunal, which is managing the various cases together.

Special purpose vehicle Commercial and Interregional Card Claims brought another set of lawsuits against Visa and Mastercard in 2022, seeking damages on behalf of merchants who were allegedly overcharged.

The tribunal initially refused to certify its cases under the United Kingdom's collective proceedings regime, which is similar to class actions in the United States.

However, the tribunal ruled on Friday that the cases would be certified, subject to any representations by other parties who might have an interest in the cases.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by David Milliken)