In the normal course of business, from time to time, the Company has been named as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations, class actions and other litigation, arising in connection with its activities. Certain of the actual or threatened legal actions include claims for substantial compensatory and/or punitive damages or claims for indeterminate amounts of damages. The litigation process is not predictable and can lead to unexpected results. The Company contests liability and/or the amount of damages as appropriate in each pending matter.

The Company has historically offered its customers an arbitration clause in its customer agreements. The arbitration clause allows the Company and its customers to quickly and economically resolve disputes. Additionally, the arbitration clause has in some instances limited the costs of, and the Company’s exposure to, litigation. Future legal and regulatory challenges and prohibitions may cause the Company to discontinue its offering and use of such clauses. From time to time, the Company is involved in legal actions challenging its arbitration clause. Bills may be periodically introduced in Congress to directly or indirectly prohibit the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses.

The Company is also involved, from time to time, in other reviews, investigations and proceedings (both formal and informal) by governmental agencies regarding the Company’s business including, among other matters, regulatory, accounting, tax and other operational matters. The investigations and proceedings may result in significant adverse judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, injunctions, decreases in regulatory ratings, customer restitution or other relief. These outcomes could materially impact the Company’s consolidated financial statements, increase its cost of operations, or limit the Company’s ability to execute its business strategies and engage in certain business activities. Certain subsidiaries of the Company are subject to consent orders with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) and FDIC, as described below. Pursuant to powers granted under federal banking laws, regulatory agencies have broad and sweeping discretion and may assess civil money penalties, require changes to certain business practices or require customer restitution at any time.

In accordance with applicable accounting guidance, the Company establishes a liability for legal and regulatory matters when those matters create loss contingencies that are both probable and estimable. Litigation and regulatory settlement-related expense was $17 million, $15 million and $59 million for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

There may be an exposure to loss in excess of any amounts accrued. The Company believes the estimate of the aggregate range of reasonably possible losses (meaning the likelihood of losses is more than remote but less than likely), in excess of the amounts that the Company has accrued for legal and regulatory proceedings, is up to $230 million as of December 31, 2023. This estimated range of reasonably possible losses is based on currently available information for those proceedings in which the Company is involved and considers the Company’s best estimate of such losses for those matters for which an estimate can be made. It does not represent the Company’s maximum potential loss exposure. Various aspects of the legal proceedings underlying the estimated range will change from time to time and actual results may vary significantly from the estimate.

The Company’s estimated range noted above involves significant judgment, given the varying stages of the proceedings, the existence of numerous yet to be resolved issues, the breadth of the claims (often spanning multiple years and, in some cases, a wide range of business activities), unspecified damages and/or the novelty of the legal issues presented. The outcome of pending matters could adversely affect the Company’s reputation and be material to the Company’s consolidated financial condition, operating results and cash flows for a particular future period, depending on, among other things, the level of the Company’s income for such period.

In July 2015, the Company announced that its subsidiaries, Discover Bank, The Student Loan Corporation and Discover Products Inc. (the “Discover Subsidiaries”), agreed to a consent order with the CFPB with respect to certain private student loan servicing practices (the “2015 Order”). The 2015 Order expired in July 2020. In December 2020, the Discover Subsidiaries agreed to a consent order (the “2020 Order”) with the CFPB resolving the agency’s investigation into Discover Bank’s compliance with the 2015 Order. In connection with the 2020 Order, Discover is required to implement a redress and compliance plan and must pay at least $10 million in consumer redress to consumers who may have been harmed and has paid a $25 million civil money penalty to the CFPB.

On September 25, 2023, following the consent of the Board of Directors of Discover Bank, the FDIC issued a consent order (the “2023 Order”) to Discover Bank, a subsidiary of the Company. The 2023 Order addresses shortcomings in Discover Bank’s compliance management system for consumer protection laws and related matters. It does not contain any monetary penalties or fines. As part of the 2023 Order, Discover Bank agreed to improve its consumer compliance management system and enhance related corporate governance and enterprise risk management practices, and increase the level of Board oversight over such matters. Discover Bank has been taking significant steps to strengthen the organization’s compliance management system and address the other issues identified in the 2023 Order. In addition, Discover added two new independent directors with significant banking experience to the Boards of Discover and Discover Bank in the third quarter of 2023.

Management and the Board are committed to meeting all the requirements of the 2023 Order. Discover Bank is working diligently to complete items required by the 2023 Order. This includes having retained third party consultants to conduct independent reviews and the submission of action plans to the FDIC by the required deadlines for review and feedback. The actions completed to date, taken together with actions previously undertaken to improve and enhance its compliance management system and enhance related corporate governance, address multiple consent order objectives, however, many provisions require longer term implementation. Depending on regulatory feedback, the timing of approvals and sustainability periods, necessary work is not likely to be completed until at least 2025.

On March 8, 2016, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the Company, other credit card networks, other issuing banks and EMVCo in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (B&R Supermarket, Inc., d/b/a Milam’s Market, et al. v. Visa, Inc., et al.) alleging a conspiracy by defendants to shift fraud liability to merchants with the migration to the EMV security standard and chip technology. The plaintiffs assert joint and several liability among the defendants and seek unspecified damages, including treble damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and injunctive relief. The Company filed its motion to compel arbitration, motion for summary judgment, and Daubert challenges on November 30, 2022, and awaits rulings. The Company is not in a position at this time to assess the likely outcome or its exposure, if any, with respect to this matter. However, the Company will seek to defend itself vigorously against all claims asserted by the plaintiffs.

As reported in the second quarter of 2023, beginning in 2007, the Company incorrectly classified certain credit card accounts into its highest merchant and merchant acquirer pricing tier. The misclassification affected pricing for certain merchants and merchant acquirers, but not for cardholders. As of December 31, 2023, the balance of the Company’s counterparty restitution liability was $1.2 billion, which includes interest on the overcharges committed to as part of the counterparty restitution plan approved by the Board of Directors in the third quarter of 2023, and

$12 million of settlement disbursements in the fourth quarter of 2023. Provision for interest was recorded through a charge to other expense. The Company continues to develop its plan to provide refunds to merchants and merchant acquirers and engage in ongoing discussions about such plans with its regulators.

The following table summarizes the change in the Company’s counterparty restitution liability pertaining to the card product misclassification beginning with its initial recognition as a result of the original error correction as of June 30, 2023 (dollars in millions):


	As of December 31, 2023
	As Previously Reported		Restatement Impacts		As Restated
Balance at June 30, 2023	$	365	$	627	$	992
Provision for refund of overcharges	22		33		55
Provision for interest on overcharges	—		124		124
Disbursements	(12)		—		(12)
Balance at December 31, 2023	$	375	$	784	$	1,159

Management has materially completed the correction of the product tiering for the previously misclassified credit cards as of November 2023, and the Company remains in discussions with its regulators regarding this matter. The Company expects these discussions will likely result in enforcement actions, which may include, among other remedies, monetary penalties, the amount of which cannot be estimated at this time.

In addition, the Company and its subsidiaries have been named as defendants in various lawsuits, including putative class actions on behalf of affected merchants, a putative class action on behalf of shareholders and shareholder derivative actions. The Company also is cooperating with a Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) investigation into the card product misclassification matter. The Company believes that additional losses are probable as a result of these actions but is not able to make a reasonable estimate of such losses as of December 31, 2023.