(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department plans to file a lawsuit against Visa Inc., the world’s largest payments network operator, alleging that the company illegally monopolized the country’s debit card market, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The antitrust division is set to file a lawsuit against Visa in federal court as early as Tuesday, accusing it of various competitive behaviors, the report said, citing unnamed sources.
The US Department of Justice is preparing to charge Visa with taking steps to prevent competitors from challenging its dominance in the debit card market, the report said.
Visa and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
In 2023, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division issued an investigative request to Visa, seeking documents and information about its debit card practices in the United States and competition with other payment networks.
The investigation began in 2021 to investigate whether Visa was using anticompetitive practices in the debit card market. The payment processor said at the time that it believed its debit practices were in compliance with applicable laws.
The move comes after Discover Financial Services’ (NYSE:) Pulse Network unit settled a lawsuit in Texas earlier this year that accused Visa of stifling competition in the multibillion-dollar debit card network services market, causing merchants to pay higher fees.
Visa rival Mastercard (NYSE:) has faced similar antitrust investigations into its U.S. debit program and competition with other payment networks.
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