US Justice Department plans to investigate Visa on debit practices

The US Department of Justice has informed credit card company Visa of its plans to open an investigation into its US debit practices, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Visa was with the department, it added. “We believe Visa’s US debit practices are in compliance with applicable laws,” the filing said.

Visa closed Friday’s trading at 206.90 dollars, down 6.24 per cent.

The US Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into Visa Inc.’s practices regarding debit-card transactions. The department is looking into the network’s rules for routing transactions both in stores and online, according to media reports.

Representatives for the Justice Department declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal said the Justice Department’s antitrust division was looking in to whether Visa limited merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive.

Source: GNA