Visa, Mastercard Swipe Fees Targeted in Planned Senate Bill (1)

Two US senators plan to introduce legislation as early as this week that would give merchants the ability to route Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. credit-card transactions over alternative networks.

The legislation -- set to be introduced by Democratic Richard Durbin of Illinois and Republican Roger Marshall of Kansas -- would direct the Federal Reserve to make sure that banks with more than $100 billion in assets ensure that their credit cards provide a choice of at least two networks that can be used to process electronic credit-card transactions, according to a handout provided by Durbin’s office.

“This would inject ...