(Dec 4): Mastercard Inc has agreed in principle to pay around £200 million (US$254 million or RM1.13 billion) to settle a UK class action lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The credit card provider was facing a lawsuit worth at least £10 billion — which would have made it the largest-ever claim of its kind. The suit came from Walter Merricks, the former head of the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service, who represented roughly 46 million consumers.

The UK courts gave the green light to the suit in 2021.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle to put this case behind us,” Mastercard said in a statement. The firm had long called the claim “flawed.”

Mastercard and its rival Visa Inc have for years been the focus of civil complaints over the amount they charge consumers and businesses to use their cards. The case stems from an EU ruling that the interchange card fees the company charged for transactions were unfair and breached competition law.

The firms reached a US$30 billion settlement with US retailers to cap credit-card swipe fees earlier this year, but that accord was blocked by a federal judge in Brooklyn in June.

A lawyer for the claimants didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Financial Times reported the settlement earlier.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja