Visa, Mastercard face U.K. challenge

recently lost a major UK court challenge to the payments regulator’s plan to cap certain cross‑border card fees, and they also face fresh UK collective actions over allegedly unlawful interchange charges.

The recent UK court ruling

• In January 2026, the High Court in London rejected a challenge brought by Mastercard, Visa and Revolut against the UK Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).

• The firms had argued the PSR lacked authority to impose proposed price caps on cross‑border interchange fees for European customers buying online from UK merchants.

• The judge held that the PSR does have power to introduce those caps, clearing the way for the regulator to proceed with its fee‑limiting measures.

Ongoing UK class actions over fees

• Visa and Mastercard are also facing another multi‑billion‑pound UK class action alleging that multilateral interchange fees breached competition law.​

• Separately, large UK merchants (turnover over £100m) have been allowed to pursue collective proceedings against Visa and Mastercard over commercial card interchange fees, following CAT certification in 2024 for claims brought by Commercial and Interregional Card Claims I Limited.

Context: consumer and merchant actions

• On the consumer side, the long‑running Merricks v Mastercard opt‑out class action over interchange fees settled for about £200m, approved by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2025, well below the original headline estimate of around £14bn.

• For merchants, the CAT has found that Visa and Mastercard have not met the burden on “pass‑on” in most sectors, with a further trial on exemption and MIF justification expected in 2027.​