Bank group wary of retailer credit card suit

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A looming class-action suit from U.S. retailers accusing credit card associations Visa and MasterCard and several big banks of price-fixing could cost the credit card industry more than $100 billion in damages and hit banks beyond American shores, a group of international bankers warned Monday.

Last June the first of some 47 lawsuits were filed by U.S. retailers and trade groups, accusing credit card associations and issuing banks of colluding to set artificially high interchange fees, the fees the merchants pay to credit card banks. It was the latest in a series of legal attacks on Visa and MasterCard by merchants who object to rising fees.

These suits are soon expected to be consolidated and certified as a class action under Federal Judge John Gleason in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. While a trial might not begin for years, these bankers fear a class-action suit could impose tens of billions of dollars in damages and hobble an important cash cow for the banking industry..... for more of the story from Reuters