An association of over 36 Swiss retailers, including Coop, Swiss, Edelweiss, Selecta and TUI Suisse, has filed a claim for damages against the card companies Mastercard and Visa with the Zurich Commercial Court together with the «Association for Fair and Fee Competition in Payment Transactions» (VWZ).

The central claim: reimbursement of unlawfully levied interchange fees totaling 142 million francs for the past three years.

The lawsuit is based on so-called interchange fees that merchants are obligated to pay for every credit and debit card payment. Depending on the sector and type of transaction, these range from 0.12 to 2.05 percent of turnover. The plaintiffs argue that these fees were not determined by the market, but by unilateral decisions of the card organizations.

Reorientation of the Fee System Demanded

The lawsuit particularly criticizes the Visa and Mastercard system, in which fees are paid to the card issuer without the merchants being able to influence the amount.

In addition to damages, the merchants are also demanding a reorganization of the fee system.

Visa Considers Lawsuit Irrelevant

Visa gives little credit to the merchants' request: «We consider the lawsuit to be without merit and will defend ourselves against it. Interchange fees are recognized by the Weko. They are necessary for payment innovations and to protect customers from fraud. Visa does not receive any share of the interchange,» according to a company statement.

At the same time, Visa points out that after the expiry of the interchange fee rates for debit transactions approved by the Weko, it reduced them by  an average of one third to EU level. «This has reduced costs for Swiss merchants by potentially more than 4 million francs per year.»