Moreno, Lummis Push Credit Card Processing Reform Amid Visa-Mastercard Dominance
Senators Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), known for championing crypto legislation, have turned their attention to disrupting another financial sector: credit card processing. The Credit Card Competition Act aims to challenge the near-duopoly held by Visa and Mastercard.
The bill would require banks with more than $100B in assets to enable at least two unaffiliated payment networks on their credit cards, giving merchants more options for routing payments. This could drive down fees paid by merchants on every swipe.
Moreno and Lummis have cosponsored the legislation along with Senator Angus King (I-ME) and a bipartisan coalition that includes Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
The opposition comes from Visa, Mastercard, and large card-issuing banks, which argue that interchange fees fund rewards programs. They claim that forcing cheaper network routing would starve these programs of revenue.
Even credit unions have raised concerns, warning that reduced interchange revenue could hurt smaller institutions that depend on those fees to fund services.