Word: visas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...does. And so far as the Department of Justice is concerned, maybe a lot better. Its antitrust division spent the summer trying a complex--some argue convoluted--case against Visa USA and MasterCard International in the U.S. Southern District of New York, in Manhattan. The two-year-old suit alleges that the associations, which together control more than 75% of the credit-card market, have conspired to keep Americans frozen in a sort of mid-'80s dark age of consumer-payment mechanisms...
Justice asserts that the big brands' coziness limits competition and that together they unfairly keep other teams (read American Express and Discover) off the playing field. Since 1976--after a Justice Department review nudged the brands toward so-called duality--banks have been able to issue both Visa and MasterCard. The brands are actually joint ventures owned by the banks that issue cards. Trouble is, the government says, the same powerful banks control both associations. The biggest banks have been able to sit on one brand's board of directors and hold great sway in the other. That...
...phalanx of the nation's largest retailers--Wal-Mart, Sears, Roebuck & Co., and the Limited among them--are suing Visa and MasterCard, saying they too were overcharged. The merchants will argue before a federal judge in Brooklyn that they are forced to accept and pay an artificially high fee on debit-card sales. They hope to wring $8.1 billion from the defendants in this class action--a number that would triple, if they win, under federal antitrust...
...France's Gemplus, which in only 12 years of existence has become the world's leading producer of smart cards--with Gloton as its director of technology and resident genius. Americans have lagged behind Europeans in the use of smart cards but are starting to catch up. Last month Visa said it would begin issuing smart cards designed by Gemplus. They will compete with American Express's new Blue smart card, which can be used in personal computers equipped with card readers. These systems provide excellent security for online shopping; the purchase won't go through unless the owner types...
...less for a trip to the mall, are you concerned that they'll run amuck on the Web with your credit card? Fortunately, savings account-linked debit cards designed for teenagers have been sprouting as quickly as virtual vendors. Firms such as PocketCard and Cobaltcard now offer prepaid Visa debit cards. In separate ventures, Visa and M2Card are set to introduce debit cards aimed at teaching prudent online-spending habits. The M2Card will even feature a rewards system for teen cybershoppers that will enable them to accrue bonus credit in stores on- and off-line. Shop...