Baker McKenzie

Mastercard risked losing half its revenue from retail interchange fees as a result of the Reserve Bank's least-cost routing initiative, and struck deals with top retailers to defend its core business, a court was told Wednesday.

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 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 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.