The DOJ will charge Visa with illegally monopolizing the US debit card market

The antitrust division is expected to file a lawsuit as soon as Tuesday accusing the operator of the largest U.S. payments network of a range of anti-competitive behavior, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the case. The government is expected to file the case in federal court.

Antitrust authorities are preparing to accuse Visa of taking steps to prevent rivals from challenging its dominance of the debit card market, the people said. The government’s allegations include that Visa entered into exclusive agreements to prevent the expansion of competing networks and thwarted efforts by technology companies to enter the market.

Visa and the Justice Department declined to comment.

The Justice Department lawsuit would be the culmination of years of investigations into Visa’s business practices. The investigation arose out of the firm’s failed acquisition of financial-technology infrastructure firm Plaid Inc. in 2021.

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

Rival of payments network Mastercard Inc. settled a separate enforcement action last year targeting its tokenization technology practices brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, which also enforces antitrust laws.

– Courtesy of Paige Smith.