Card giants lose case

Agence France-Presse, New York

Credit card giants Visa and MasterCard must allow banks in their networks to distribute cards from rival firms, a judge ruled Tuesday in a major antitrust case, parties in the case said.

The ruling by Federal Judge Barbara Jones gave a victory to the government's antitrust division and firms like American Express and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which distributes the Discover Card.

The rivals had claimed the credit card giants had illegally barred banks distributing Visa and MasterCard from issuing other cards such as American Express and Discover.

Visa and Mastercard hold about 75 percent of the credit and charge card market, which had a total of US$1.4 trillion in payments in 1999.

"Today's decision is a win for the American consumer," said American Express chairman Kenneth Chenault.

"It will ultimately lead to more competition and a broader choice of innovative products. The decision is also a clear loss for Visa and MasterCard, and it illustrates how they have broken the law over a long period of time. This decision is consistent with similar decisions from competition authorities around the world."

Visa USA vice president Kelly Presta said in a statement the firm was "obviously disappointed" with the judge's decision" but had not yet decided its next legal move.