Fed considering deep cuts to debit-card swipe fees, WSJ reports

The Federal Reserve is set to propose lowering by about 30% the fees merchants pay to many banks when consumers shop with debit cards, setting off a fight with banks that oppose the changes, The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Ackerman, AnnaMaria Andriotis, and David Benoit report. At present, merchants pay large card issuers such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) 21 cents plus 0.05% of the transaction amount, which is the level set by the Fed in 2011. The Fed can lower the cap if it determines the costs for processing debit-card payments are declining, but it has never previously done so, the author notes. Publicly traded companies in the space include Visa (V) and MasterCard (MA).