Visa and the ACCC in court for a directions hearing
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's case against Visa continues to grind on with no formal trial date sent. The case was launched in February last year, amid allegations by the ACCC that Visa misused its market power to prevent expansion of currency conversion services to new merchant outlets and onto ATMs in Australia, in competition with Visa's own comparable service. Yesterday, more than a dozen lawyers arm-wrestled over how evidence could be presented and circulated. The ACCC and the various other players are looking to set up a protocol allowing them to frame their presentations and defences in a way that limits the disclosure of market sensitive information to rival financial services firms. They fear that, for instance, data retrieved from one bank's eftpos machines may be a source of valuable intelligence for competitors.The case returns to court in October.