Payments Leadership Council

Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover Financial, as well as industry counterparts FIS, Fiserv and Global Payments, have formed the Payments Leadership Council to represent their position to the government and in the media on a range of issues. Card payments are in the spotlight currently.

An example of this is the fee changes planned for April 2021, delayed from April and then October 2020, which have been delayed again, this time for a year. Two US Senators, Dick Durbin, of debit card fee limit fame, and Peter Welch, had written to the CEOs of Visa and Mastercard asking them not to increase fees in the light of the economic situation in the US. Their actions generated a mounting political response to the plan and this appears to be behind this change of plan.