Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 23 February, 2023, 10:51 0 likes

I hope CAT throws out this claim summarily and fines Harcus Parker for filing a frivolous lawsuit on top of that. 

That's the only way to stop this never-ending retail industry practice of using a service, willy-nilly benefiting from it, and then crying foul after years.

If they really don't get value from credit card, retailers should stop accepting it. It's not like anybody is forcing retailers to sign a merchant account.

In fact, the blockbuster success of merchant Square / Block, iZettle, et al shows that there's a huge market of small retailers for whom interchange is even a bigger burden that still likes credit card so much that it signs up with merchant aggregators for the privilege of accepting credit card at even higher MDR because banks won't issue them a merchant account in their own names (due to their higher acquirer risk profile.)

A Finextra member 28 February, 2023, 11:51 0 likes

You make some good points but regulation and oversight are good things and all companies should be held accountable for the profits they generate. Unrestricted Capitalism sucks money out of the consumer's pockets and into the bank accounts of stakeholders. If the fees that are charged for the services provided then the courts will figure that out. Unconstrained corporate greed is a very bad thing. Someone has to decide where the balance should be and the independent judiciary is exactly the right mechanism for doing this if industry self-regulation fails. Which it has.

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 28 February, 2023, 12:16 0 likes

Absolutely not!

In a capitalism, price-value is entirely between buyer and seller.

Not government, least of all, courts have any business to interfere in that matter, except under monopoly, which credit card industry - comprising Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, China UnionPay, RuPay - is certainly not. 

A Finextra member 28 February, 2023, 12:50 0 likes

An that my friend is why Capitalism is broken. Adam Smith, in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations published 1776 noted that we should be cautious not to take our morality from the marketplace. Alas, that is exactly what has happened. There are families in my village that have to take turns eating because they don't have the money to feed the whole family for every meal. I was a huge believer in Capitalism - once. But now I find that it is to raw a force, to self-serving to be left unchecked. You are 100% right about the doctrines of Capitalism but it is broken, damaging for too many people, and a man-made construct. Capitalism urgently needs a powerful infusion of humanity and compassion. We need a new financial doctrine whereby wealth is not concentrated in the hands of a diminishing few. Read some studies on the flow of funds and the concentration of wealth. Look into your heart and the eyes of the dispossessed. Listen to the song 1 in 10 by UB40 and study the lyrics carefully. That is all I can suggest.

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 28 February, 2023, 15:33 0 likes

You probably have seen Capitalism before the other systems.

I, on the other hand, have seen the other systems before Capitalism. 

I'll summarize my experience by paraphrasing Winston Churchill's famous quote about democracy: "Capitalism is the worst system except for all its alternatives".

A Finextra member 28 February, 2023, 17:41 0 likes

I have to say Ketharaman that this has been a very enjoyable discussion. Clearly we have different views but it has been great to kick them around with you. Thank you.

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 01 March, 2023, 07:36 0 likes

Likewise @David Smith. Thank you!

Coming back to the original topic. Retailers will whine forever about high credit card MDR. But, when consumers pay with debit card and other MOPs on which their processing costs are way lower, retailers never given them any discount. 

So, IMO, retailers are more responsible than Banks for people going hungry in your village. Regardless of our divergent views on Capitalism, I hope I can enlist your support for my call to CAT to throw out the claim from retailers and fine Harcus Parker for filing a frivolous lawsuit.