Supreme Court to Hear AmEx Antitrust Case

By AnnaMaria Andriotis

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear a case against American Express Co. that centers on whether the company can continue to ban merchants from asking shoppers to use cards that charge stores lower fees.

The court's move marks the latest turn in a long-running antitrust case against the credit-card giant. The case centers on the fees that AmEx charges merchants when consumers use its cards at their stores. AmEx's card policy says that merchants that choose to accept AmEx cards can't steer consumers to use cards on other networks, like Visa or Mastercard.

"The earlier decision by the Second Circuit panel protects a consumer's right to choose how they pay, prevents our card members from being discriminated against and promotes competition in the payments industry, " said a company spokesman. "With the Supreme Court's decision to take up this case, we will continue to vigorously defend the Second Circuit's decision in favor of American Express."

A federal appeals court in 2016 reversed a lower-court ruling that said AmEx violated antitrust rules because it didn't allow stores that accept AmEx cards to encourage shoppers to use cheaper cards. In June, the Justice Department said it wouldn't ask the Supreme Court to review its case against AmEx.

That same day, though, attorneys general from 11 states, led by Ohio, filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting it review their case against the company.

AmEx shares fell more than 1% Monday after the Supreme Court said it would hear the case.

The stakes are high for AmEx. The fees it charges retailers are often higher than for other cards. Some merchants choose not to accept AmEx cards as a result.

AmEx in recent years has been working on raising its merchant acceptance in part by lowering its so-called swipe fees. Still, a ruling against the company's current policy could lessen the number of AmEx card transactions and related revenue. AmEx has said in recent securities filings that losing the case could have a material adverse effect on its business.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 16, 2017 11:46 ET (15:46 GMT)

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