Fed Agrees to Rewrite Debit-Card Routing Rules in Blow for Visa

The Federal Reserve agreed to rewrite a sweeping set of rules that govern how debit-card transactions are processed, a move that could boost competition for Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc.

The central bank on Monday ordered lenders across the country to make sure they always have at least two payment networks enabled to process all debit-card transactions, including for online purchases. Some issuers haven’t yet enabled at least two networks for digital purchases, an issue that’s become “increasingly pronounced because of continued growth in online payments,” the Fed said in a statement.

The move is a potential blow ...