On Thursday, May 13 U.S. Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois proposed an amendment to the financial regulation bill that would limit debit card fees and allow merchants to cap debit- and credit-card transaction amounts. If passed, the bill is expected to significantly reduce the volume of debit card transactions Iithe short term, which would hurt Visa's earnings.
Visa poasted better than expected earnings for its second quarter. Its net income was $536 million, a 70% increase compared to the same period last year. The company attributed this increase to higher prices, expense cuts, and higher debit card transaction volume.
Despite the economic downturn, Visa announced that its profits rose as consumers continued to use electronic payments. This announcement beat analyst expectations.
Discover reached an agreement with Visa and Mastercard for $2.75B in an anti-trust suit over uncompetitive pricing.
European Union antitrust regulators opened a probe of fees set by Visa Europe, the regional franchise of the world's biggest credit-card network. Three months ago, the same commission ruled MasterCard Inc.'s similar fee is illegal.
Visa debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "V." Its historic initial public offering raised $17.86 billion. Visa's IPO is the largest domestic initial public offering in U.S. history and the third largest initial public offering worldwide.
