DOJ preps antitrust suit against Visa: reports

Driving the news: The Justice Department reportedly plans to argue that Visa strikes exclusive agreements to hinder competing networks and punishes merchants who try to use competing services to process payments.

• It is also expected to accuse Visa of coercing other fintechs to work with it by threatening penalties on those who do not.

Context: The DoJ has been investigating Visa for several years, which the company previously disclosed.

• In 2020, it sued to block Visa's planned acquisition of fintech startup Plaid, arguing that the transaction would have enabled the payments firm to eliminate a competitive threat.

State of play: Visa shares fell about 3.5% in early trading following reports of the lawsuit.

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