Fed to propose lowering fees merchants pay when consumers use debit, WSJ says

The Federal Reserve is preparing a proposal that would lower fees merchants pay to many banks when consumers use their debit cards, AnnaMaria Andriotis, David Benoit, and Andrew Ackerman of The Wall Street Journal report. Currently, merchants pay large card issuers 21c and 0.05% of the transaction amount, a level set by the Fed in 2011. The Fed recently said it will hold a meeting to vote on a proposal about revising the fee cap, with people familiar with the matter saying the proposal would lower the cap, the Journal reports. Publicly traded companies in the space include Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JP Morgan (JPM), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Mastercard (MA), Visa (V).