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A trial judge has heard that Mastercard's top Australian executives discussed stripping Woolworths of strategic merchant status if the supermarket giant routed customer transactions through the cheaper EFTPOS network.
Mastercard's Australia boss was anxious to sign a deal with Woolworths on payments processing after learning that Coles had chosen to route all debit transactions through the cheaper EFTPOS network, a court has heard.
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 class action over alleged flammable Vitrabond building cladding has secured an adjournment until after a court hears from the parties in an unsuccessful case against Alucobond maker 3A.
Construction PRO
A class action over alleged combustible Vitrabond cladding will wait until after a court hears from the parties in a similar case against Alucobond maker 3A Composites, which suffered a loss last month.
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.
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.
A judge has said he will not be able to decide all the suppression applications in the ACCC’s misuse of market power case against Mastercard ahead of trial, saying the court was facing an “unreasonable, if not oppressive” burden.