Mastercard International

Discover Financial Services, the fourth-biggest U.S. credit card company, settled an antitrust suit in which it sought $18 billion from larger rivals Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. for blocking banks from issuing its cards. The accord came as trial was to begin Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Terms weren't disclosed, but UBS analyst Adam Frisch in New York wrote that "industry sources" said the case was settled for $2.

The Justice Department is investigating interchange fees that MasterCard Inc., Visa International Inc. and their member banks charge retailers to process transactions, the department's chief antitrust enforcer told Congress. Thomas O.

Retailers that won a $3-billion antitrust settlement from Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc. are questioning a bid by the U.S. government to get a share of the settlement money. In a Feb. 1 letter to the judge overseeing the case, the lead attorney representing the retailers said there was a "serious question" about whether the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Service, which had filed claims Jan. 27, should be given a piece of the landmark settlement.

MasterCard Inc., the nation's second-largest credit card brand, said Thursday it would postpone its initial public offering until the second quarter as its chief executive recovers from surgery for prostate cancer. The company had been expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange during the first quarter. However, MasterCard said President and CEO Bob Selander recently was diagnosed with the cancer, which would have made touting the IPO in an investor road show difficult.

MasterCard Inc. priced its long-awaited initial public offering Wednesday at $39 a share, slightly below the market's expectation. At that price, the Purchase, N.Y.-based credit card association would raise $2.39 billion, making the IPO the largest by a U.S. company in two years. By comparison, Google Inc. raised $1.7 billion when it went public in 2004. About 62 million MasterCard shares representing a 46% stake will begin trading today under the symbol MA.

MasterCard Worldwide said it would establish a cap on the fees gas stations pay to clear consumer credit cards and would publish a complete list of its so-called interchange fees, which merchants pay for the processing of card transactions. The move comes as a number of retail groups have filed class-action suits against MasterCard, Visa USA and a number of major banks over interchange fees. The merchants pay those fees indirectly as a component of fees charged to them by their banks.

Cigna Corp. on Wednesday reported a 15% increase in third-quarter profit, buoyed by a strong showing in its health insurance business as membership rolls increased and the company better managed its medical costs. In the quarter, net income rose to $298 million, or $2.75 a share, from $259 million, or $2, during the same period last year. Earnings excluding investment gains and other nonoperating items increased to $268 million, or $2.48 a share, in the latest quarter from $251 million, or $1.

MasterCard International Inc. is entitled to sponsor the next two World Cup soccer tournaments, a federal judge ruled Thursday, despite a deal Visa International Inc. signed with soccer's international governing body calling for it to receive the rights Jan. 1. U.S. District Judge Loretta A.

In the largest reported security breach of personal financial information, hackers infiltrated the computers at a Tucson credit card processing center and stole as many as 40 million card numbers, it was disclosed Friday. MasterCard International said card numbers and expiration dates were harvested by a rogue program planted inside the computer network at CardSystems Inc., one of the firms that process merchant requests for credit card authorization.

Visa USA and MasterCard International have won dismissal of a lawsuit by California merchants that accused the credit card associations of antitrust violations in setting payment transaction fees. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco also dismissed claims against Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp, saying the merchants failed to allege a conspiracy to fix fees.