The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that American Express can block merchants from steering customers to use cheaper credit card payments methods, reports the FT. The court ruled that Amex's merchant restrictions do not stifle competition and said the benefits to consumers must be taken into account when weighing up the harms and benefits in the credit card market. The Department of Justice and 17 states first sued Amex, Visa and Mastercard in 2010 alleging that the terms they placed on merchants illegally constrained competition. Visa and Mastercard settled, but Amex opted to fight the case. The ruling has been described as a major victory for the credit card businesses over retailers and other merchants. HSBC will pay New Zealander Ewan Stevenson up to £10.6 million to buy out his unvested bonuses as part of a deal to hire the Royal Bank of Scotland's finance director to replace retiring HSBC finance director Iain Mackay. The timing of Stevenson's move is "yet to be determined", reports the FT. Stevenson has said he would like to remain at RBS to oversee "an orderly handover".