Visa told by Japan antitrust watchdog to reform credit info system
It marks the first administrative action taken by the Japan Fair Trade Commission against a credit card company. The commission said global credit card brand Visa Inc.'s Singaporean unit, which manages the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, had charged higher fees to other credit card companies that did not use its network to check credit information.
The commission said the Visa unit has submitted plans to improve its practices, adding that it has accepted the plans. The company was exempted from facing fines or other punitive measures under the antimonopoly law.
According to the Japan Consumer Credit Association, as of 2020, the Visa credit card brand accounted for about half of the market share in Japan. The total amount of credit card transactions in the country in 2024 stood at 116 trillion yen ($785 billion).
Credit card transactions involve an issuing company and a management company, which both utilize a trusted reference system when a transaction is made, according to the watchdog.
Interchange fees, typically set by global brands, are paid by the management company to the issuing company during a transaction, while the issuing company pays a service charge to a different company -- in this case Visa Worldwide -- providing the reference system.
While Visa Inc. had applied preferential rates under certain requirements, it altered the conditions from no later than November 2021 to necessitate the use of its network, leading some companies to switch to the system under Visa despite it costing more than others.
Visa's practice is believed to have been aimed at increasing revenue by excluding competitors from the market.
Japanese authorities had been investigating allegations that the practice violated the antimonopoly law, which prohibits companies in a dominant position from imposing unfair trading terms on firms with a weaker standing.
Tuesday's administrative action against Visa Worldwide does not mean that the practice "violated" the law.
Under the plans submitted to the commission, the Visa unit will restore conditions for preferential rates to previous iterations. A third-party entity, approved by the watchdog, will also check for improvements and report to the commission over the next five years.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Nikkei Asia
an hour ago
- Nikkei Asia
US, Japan differ on details of tariff deal, with no clear start date
Ryosei Akazawa, center, Japan's lead negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S., returned to Japan on July 24 after a deal was announced. (Photo by Uichiro Kasai) JUN YAMAZAKI TOKYO -- Details released by the White House on its tariff agreement with Japan include many points that are unclear or out of sync with how Tokyo has explained it, including the date it goes into effect and the framework for Japanese investment in the U.S. A U.S. fact sheet on the Japan tariff deal released Wednesday states that "imports from Japan will be subject to a baseline 15% tariff rate" but does not clarify when that will start.


Nikkei Asia
4 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
NTT's AI spending drives Japan Inc.'s record $234bn capex
Spending on data centers and renewable energy is contributing to Japan's record-high capital expenditure. (Source photos by Nikkei) KEIGO YOSHIDA TOKYO -- Japanese corporations are on track to spend a record 34.26 trillion yen ($234 billion) in capital expenditures this fiscal year, with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone emerging as the biggest spender driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure. The figure represents a 12.4% jump from fiscal 2024, marking a second consecutive record, according to Nikkei survey of listed companies and major businesses capitalized at 100 million yen or more.

7 hours ago
Ishiba Reiterates Determination to Stay On
News from Japan Politics Jul 24, 2025 22:05 (JST) Tokyo, July 24 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday reiterated his intention to stay in office despite his ruling bloc's bruising defeat in Sunday's parliamentary election. "I want to continue to make every effort to ensure that this agreement is steadily implemented and to dispel concerns among domestic businesses," Ishiba told reporters, referring to the agreement reached in Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations. "It's important for I and the president to implement the agreement steadily," Ishiba said of U.S. President Donald Trump. Japan has as many as 4,318 items for export to the United States, the prime minister said. "I think (business operators) are very worried about what will happen to their export items." END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press