Visa Faces Justice Department Antitrust Case Over Debit Cards (1)

THE United States Department of Justice plans to allege that Visa Inc. illegally monopolized the U.S. debit card market, according to people familiar with the matter.

The antitrust division is expected to file a lawsuit as early as Tuesday against the operator of the largest U.S. payment network for a range of anticompetitive behavior, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. The government is expected to file the case in federal court.

Antitrust authorities are preparing to charge Visa with taking steps to prevent competitors from challenging its dominance in the debit card market, the people said. The government accuses Visa of striking exclusive deals to hinder the expansion of rival networks and thwarting efforts by technology companies to enter the market.

Visa shares fell as much as 1.95% in after-hours trading in New York on Monday following the news.

Visa and the Justice Department declined to comment.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit is believed to be the culmination of years of investigations into Visa. business practicesThe survey was born from the company’s desire failed acquisition of the financial and technological infrastructure company Plaid Inc. in 2021.

Learn more: Visa faces Justice Department scrutiny over how it prices ‘token’ technology

During the investigation, the Justice Department also reviewed the price structure in what is known in the industry as “tokenization” technology.

Competing payment network Mastercard Inc. has settled a separate enforcement action last year targeting its tokenization technology practices brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which also enforces antitrust laws.

(Updated with market share drop in fourth paragraph.)

–With the help of Paige Smith.

To contact reporters on this story:
Lea Nylen in Washington at lnylen2@bloomberg.net;
Kartikay Mehrotra in San Francisco at kmehrotra9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this article:
Sara Forden has sforden@bloomberg.net

Ben Bain

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