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August 14, 2023 • Issue 23:08:01

Payments, a retrospective
Payments, a retrospectiv e

The contentious world of merchant fees

Star, the expectation being these might be cheaper. "This
legislation which builds upon pro-competition reforms
Congress enacted in 2010, would give small businesses a
meaningful choice when it comes to card networks, and
it would enable innovators to gain a foothold in the credit
card market," Sen. Durbin said in a statement.

Durbin has bi-partisan support for the legislation, with
co-sponsors Senators Roger Marshall, M.D., R-Kan., J.D.
Vance, R-Ohio, and Peter Welch, D-Vt.. Similar bipartisan
legislation is pending in the House.

Opposition to the bill is strong among card issuers
and the card brands. "We urge you to reject this cynical
manipulation of our nation's payments system for narrow
By Patti Murphy financial gain for the nation's largest retailers," a group of
eight bank and credit union trade associations wrote in a
top me if you have heard this story before. A letter to House and Senate leaders.
group of lawmakers, lobbied by large retailers,
attempt to ramrod through Congress a bill regu- Meanwhile, Politico reported that Alfred Kelly, executive
S lating the business of card acquiring by offering chairman of Visa, paid a visit to Capitol Hill hoping to
the bill as an amendment to other urgent legislation. dissuade potential co-sponsors of the CCCA, which was
introduced as a free-standing bill in June. And the American
That is how the Durbin Amendment regulating debit Bankers Association has been running media blitzes in
interchange became part of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. select markets, like Washington, D.C., and the sponsors'
And it is a tactic Senator Durbin has tried again, offering home districts, highlighting the potential damage the bill
the Credit Card Competition Act as an amendment to the will do to rewards programs.
National Defense Authorization Act.
(He failed this time.)

The NDAA funds activities of the Department of Defense Contributed articles inside by:
and important national security initiatives. The CCCA
would require the largest banks ($100,000 or more in assets)
to make the credit cards they issue usable on at least two Nick Cuuci................................................................................................28
processing networks—only one of which can be owned by Ken Musante ..........................................................................................30
Visa or Mastercard—that merchants can choose from for
processing. Matthew Luciani ...................................................................................32
Elie Y. Katz ...............................................................................................34
Alternatives might include the American Express and
Discover card networks, or ATM networks like Shazam and

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