As proponents and adversaries wrangle over the newly resurrected Credit Card Competition Act, a market-research firm has raised by more than one-third its estimate of how much the bill could save U.S. merchants. A year ago, the firm, Atlanta-based CMS Payments Intelligence Inc., calculated the bill would result in $11 …

On Saturday, a final rule issued in October by the Federal Reserve goes into effect, requiring that all issuers offer a choice of at least two networks for routing online debit card transactions. The update, derived from the 2010 Durbin Amendment, has been a bone of contention for years between merchants and issuers. …

As proponents and adversaries wrangle over the newly resurrected Credit Card Competition Act, a market-research firm has raised by more than one-third its estimate of how much the bill could save U.S. merchants. A year ago, the firm, Atlanta-based CMS Payments Intelligence Inc., calculated the bill would result in $11 …

Small businesses in Canada will reap lower interchange rates in that country, the Department of Finance Canada announced Thursday. The deal suggests a similar reduction is possible in the United States, the Merchant Payments Coalition quickly responded. Both Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. agreed to lower the domestic consumer credit …

On April 15, Visa Inc. lowered the amount a merchant can surcharge for transactions on its credit cards from a maximum of 4% to 3%, a move it had announced early this year. Merchants that want to surcharge will have no option but to comply with the 3% cap, says …

Visa Inc. is poised to lower on Saturday the amount a merchant can surcharge for transactions on its credit cards from a maximum of 4% to 3%, a move it announced early this year. Some observers acknowledge the reduction will happen, though Visa Inc. has not responded to Digital Transactions …

Industry opinions are mixed regarding a move by banking trade groups to plead for more time to act on a ruling issued in October by the Federal Reserve. The ruling orders all banks to comply by July 1 with an 11-year-old requirement that merchants have a choice of at least …

A bill designed to allow merchants to have a choice of networks for routing credit card transactions failed to pass last year, but now international tensions could affect the proposed law’s prospects in the new Congress. The bill, called the Credit Card Competition Act, would mandate that merchants have a …

History has shown the two global card networks will never introduce real competition on their own. Time for regulators to intervene. The Fed and the FTC have made a start. The recent clarification by the Federal Reserve confirming that a more than 10-year-old law applies to online debit cards—coupled with …

The Federal Trade Commission announced two days before Christmas it had leveled a preliminary consent order against Mastercard Inc. The order—issued to correct what the agency saw as roadblocks the card company had erected against routing online debit transactions to competing networks—may have surprised at least some observers. That’s because …