Thank you, Attorney General Garland.
Today, the Department brings this antitrust action against Visa for monopolizing the debit market. Our complaint describes how Visa has maintained this monopoly — not by competing on the merits, but by threatening merchants and banks with higher rates if they do business with Visa’s competitors. And we explain how Visa has further entrenched its dominance by disrupting innovations that threaten to loosen its control.
Visa is a classic example of a middleman that takes advantage of its role as gatekeeper to stamp out competition. Because companies like Visa facilitate commercial transactions, they have the power to exercise considerable control over the markets in which they operate. These middlemen can use that power to make those markets more efficient, offering more choices and more affordable products. Or, like Visa, they can try to use that power to hike fees on customers and stifle innovation.
More and more, we are seeing these kinds of intermediaries gain control in a broad range of industries — from healthcare to online advertising to live music to housing. As today’s action demonstrates, we remain dedicated to stopping these middlemen from exploiting their power to increase their profits while consumers get harmed.
Today’s action also reflects our continued commitment to ensuring economic justice for all Americans and fighting illegal conduct that unfairly raises prices.
Every day, millions of Americans use debit cards to buy groceries, clothing, and other necessities. Many Americans rely exclusively on debit cards. That is particularly true of younger or less affluent individuals who are unable to obtain credit cards or who prefer not to use them. When merchants raise their prices to cover Visa’s exorbitant fees, the burden of Visa’s anticompetitive conduct falls disproportionately on Americans who are less well off, and who feel the impact of high prices most painfully.
Promoting competition through antitrust enforcement levels the playing field and plays a critical part in advancing economic opportunity and equity. But our work to ensure economic opportunity for all Americans, regardless of income status, spans the entire Department. It includes the Civil Division’s work to protect vulnerable seniors from financial fraud. And it includes the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s fight to ensure all Americans, including people in Native communities, have access to clean air, safe drinking water, and a healthy environment. Today’s action against Visa makes clear that we will continue to focus our resources on advancing economic justice and equity.
Before I close, I would like to thank the staff and leadership of the Antitrust Division for their extraordinary work on this matter. The Department is incredibly grateful for your continued dedication and professionalism.
With that, I will turn the podium over to Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki.
