JPMorgan Says Credit-Card Swipe Case Cost $1.2 Billion

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. credit-card lender, will contribute about $1.2 billion to settle a price-fixing case brought by retailers over credit-card swipe fees.

JPMorgan agreed to cover about 20 percent of a $6.05 billion deal to settle claims that the bank conspired with MasterCard Inc. (MA) and Visa Inc. (V) to rig credit-card processing fees, the New York-based bank said today in a filing.

Visa and MasterCard, the world’s biggest payment networks, and some of the largest U.S. banks agreed last month to pay merchants $6.6 billion and temporarily reduce credit-card swipe fees, or interchange, to settle the antitrust lawsuit. The deal includes cash payments of $6.05 billion to merchants who take part in the proposed class action and $525 million to individual plaintiffs. The larger amount would be reduced if some plaintiffs don’t agree to participate.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the second-biggest U.S. credit-card lender, said last week that it will contribute a total of $738 million to settle the case. Citigroup Inc. (C), the No. 3 card issuer, said in an Aug. 3 filing that second-quarter expenses at its North America consumer bank climbed 5 percent to $2.45 billion, an increase “driven entirely” by a boost in legal reserves tied to the litigation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in New York at dkopecki@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net