Two U.S. senators are preparing legislation that would give merchants the power to process many Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. credit cards over different networks, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bill, which could be introduced as soon as this week, aims to create more competition among U.S. credit card networks, a sector where Visa and Mastercard have long dominated. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) are expected to introduce the bill. Marshall said that banks and major card networks lobbied his office to not sign on to the bill. He decided to move forward after hearing from a growing number of merchants, including small businesses, restaurants, gas stations and convenience stores, about the toll of the rising credit card fees set by Visa and Mastercard that are often pocketed by large banks. Durbin spearheaded a similar rule for debit cards over a decade ago. The Durbin amendment, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, requires that merchants have the ability to choose from at least two unaffiliated debit card networks when routing transactions.
