WASHINGTON–The decision to seek to stop Visa’s acquisition of Plaid is being hailed by the nation’s retailers.
“Visa has used its power to impose anticompetitive prices and practices on merchants for decades,” said Stephanie Marz, chief administrative officer and general counsel with the National Retail Federation.
“One of the few ways to bring Visa’s anticompetitive behavior under control is through the adoption of innovations powered by technology from companies like Plaid. But Visa’s buying spree of fintech companies is an attempt to protect its dominance of the payment card industry and extend that control into mobile payments and other new payment options. This acquisition would block badly needed competition and should not be allowed to move forward.”
In march, the NRF asked to “carefully scrutinize” Visa’s acquisition of Plaid, saying new payment technologies present “the one glimmer of hope” for alternatives to card networks such as Visa’s. The United States is the only country with no usable financial technology alternative for consumer networks that is not proprietary to a card network or bank, NRF said. Plaid is one of five fintech companies Visa has announced plans to acquire or enter partnerships with since 2019, the NRF noted.