US to accuse Visa of illegal debit card monopoly, sources say

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice intends to charge Visa with illegally holding a monopoly on the U.S. debit card market, people familiar with the matter say.

The antitrust division is expected to file a lawsuit as early as Sept. 24 accusing the operator of the largest U.S. payment network of a range of anticompetitive conduct, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the matter. The government is expected to file the case in federal court.

Law enforcement is preparing to accuse Visa of taking steps to prevent rivals from challenging its dominance in the debit card market, the people said. The U.S. government’s accusations include that Visa entered into exclusivity agreements to stymie the expansion of rival payment networks and thwarted efforts by technology companies to enter the market.

Following the news, Visa shares fell 1.95% during the New York Stock Exchange trading session on September 23.

Visa and the Justice Department declined to comment.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit would be the culmination of a multi-year investigation into Visa’s business practices, which stemmed from the company’s failed acquisition of financial infrastructure company Plaid in 2021.

During the investigation, the Justice Department also examined Visa’s pricing structure for a technology known in the industry as “tokenization.”

Payments network rival Mastercard last year settled a separate enforcement action against its tokenization technology practices brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which also enforces antitrust laws. BLOOMBERG