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NewsBriefs

Visa sued over surcharge, cash discount rules

Arizona-based fintech company MiCamp Solutions
filed a class-action lawsuit against Visa in the U.S. Dis-
trict Court for the Northern District of California in
December 2023. MiCamp alleges that Visa's surcharg-
ing and cash discounting rules are anticompetitive
and have allowed Visa to gain "monopoly power." The
lawsuit represents MiCamp and other ISOs affected by
these rules and the penalties Visa imposes for noncom-
pliance.

Visa's surcharge and discount rules have been an on-
going point of contention. While 48 states explicitly
permit credit card surcharging, Visa lowered the cap
on permissible credit card surcharges from 4 percent
to 3 percent in July 2023. Plaintiffs also allege that Visa
deployed "secret shoppers" to identify merchants not
complying with its rules and imposed fines, which the
lawsuit likens to "criminal penalties."

The lawsuit alleges that Visa's practices have made cash
discounting programs confusing and have led ISOs to
stop offering such programs, costing them hundreds
of millions of dollars. It recounts an instance when
Visa fined MiCamp $70,000 for a merchant accused of
a dual pricing violation, leading to secret shopper vis-
its to over 1,800 MiCamp merchants and a data breach.
MiCamp's lawsuit seeks damages, including trebling
the awards as per antitrust law, plus interest.
Fintech incubator reflects India's digital growth

India's growing digital-first economy and status as a
global ecommerce giant are creating opportunities
for players in the fintech industry. Industry leaders
and fintech companies like Monnai, EBANX, and As-
troPay have praised India's adaptable infrastructure
and skilled workforce. Ramesh Narasimhan, CEO of
India for Worldline Merchant Services, highlighted
that India's demographic profile, with 75 percent of the
population under 45 years old, combined with rapid
urbanization and 800 million internet users, has set
the stage for explosive ecommerce growth. He believes
consumer spending will double and ecommerce will
expand in India by 80 percent to reach $110 billion by
2025.

A new entrant to India's fintech landscape, Gravity,
launched in December 2023 in Mumbai. Co-founders
Rohit Maroo and Satish Krishnaswamy, former bank-
ers at HDFC Bank, aim to create a hyper-personalized
banking services platform. Gravity's central processing
platform simplifies and integrates a bank's software
applications, making them more secure and agile with-
out the need for extensive replacement of legacy sys-
tems, the co-founders stated. Key figures in the bank-
ing and technology sectors expressed enthusiasm for
Gravity's potential to disrupt and modernize India's
banking tech ecosystem.

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