Michael Gvozdenovic

Mastercard considered threatening Coles with losing its discounted interchange fees to rival Woolworths if the supermarket chain re-routed customer debit and credit transactions away from the payments giant, a trial judge has heard in the ACCC's misuse of market power case.

Mastercard's APAC head was "perfectly comfortable" with the threat of removal of discounted interchange rates to cut a deal with Coles to route transactions through its payment network, a court has heard.

A judge said Tuesday evidence in a case over the sale of a stake in Melbourne Airport's operator might justify a finding that shareholder Dexus acted unethically and immorally. But whether such a finding was relevant to the validity of a default notice at the centre of the suit is another matter.

Former ACCC chair Allan Fels says the competition regulator appears to have a strong misuse of market power case against Mastercard, but noted the credit card giant may raise arguments about two-sided markets in defending the claims.

APAC issued a default notice to Dexus' infrastructure fund manager for a purported breach of a shareholder agreement during a share sales process to "get rid of" it, a trial has heard.

Previewing Monday's closing arguments in its legal tussle with the operator of Melbourne Airport, co-owner Dexus says it won't deny a long-term model given to potential share purchasers was confidential. But here's the kicker -- the disclosure didn't run afoul of its shareholder agreement, it says.

Mastercard executives who claim they had no anti-competitive purpose when pursuing agreements with retailers to favour its network are expected to face cross-examination about responses given to the Reserve Bank about its least cost routing initiative.

T Corp's representative on the board of Melbourne Airport operator APAC said Thursday he voted to issue a notice of default to shareholder Dexus in part because the real estate asset manager "appeared to prefer its own interests".

Mastercard has hit back at the ACCC’s claims that it sought to prevent competition with EFTPOS through strategic agreements with large retailers, saying the deals were struck for “benign and pro-competitive” reasons. 

Mastercard made ‘strategic’ agreements with large retailers like Coles and David Jones to keep them from routing through EFTPOS, offering discounted exchange rates that left smaller businesses footing the bill, the ACCC told the court on the first day of trial.