A group claim against Mastercard, brought on behalf of 46 million card holders, is to proceed to trial.

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) certified the Merricks v Mastercard lawsuit yesterday (18 August), on the condition that a suitable undertaking oncosts liability was given by the claimants’ new litigation funder.

This is the first  collective proceedings order (CPO) to be granted, in a major development for consumer class actions.

The £15 billion claim alleges that Mastercard charged UK customers  higher prices through so-called 'interchange fees', levied between 1992 and 2008.

The claim is brought by former financial services ombudsman Walter Merricks.

CAT originally rejected the lawsuit in 2017, on the grounds that the claims were not eligible for inclusion in collective proceedings.

However, the case was remitted to the CAT by the Supreme Court in December 2020.

'Vast' costs

In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the tribunal said that the expected costs of the proceedings were ”vast”.

The litigation funder previously financing the proceedings has now been replaced by Innsworth Capital, and Merricks has access to funding for his costs and disbursements of £45.1 million, on top of £15 million for adverse costs, the Law Society Gazette of England and Wales  reports.