NEW VISA U.S.A. CEO ASKED ABOUT INTERCHANGE SUIT
The Associated Press reported on July 12th that VISA U.S.A., the country's largest payment system named John Philip Coghlan as its new chief executive officer. During the Monday conference call, while not discussing the antitrust litigation, of which 30 Minute Photos Etc. is a lead plaintiff, AP did report that Mr. Coghlan said he could "empathize with merchants, having been one himself."
The article explains that the merchant interchange fee average about 1.7 percent of each transaction and yields more than $20 billion annually in revenues. While Wal-Mart has already been successful in negotiating fees, the new litigation seeks to become a nationwide class action.
David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report said "This represents some thinking outside the box. "Visa's challenge is no longer getting its cards into the hands into consumers or convincing merchants that they need to accept the cards. The challenge now is build better relationships with merchants."
The article explained that Visa's new CEO is faced with helping the credit card association defuse this merchant rebellion against rising interchange fees.
Click here to view the Associated Press article
