Visa (V) and Mastercard’s (MA) settlement with US merchants to lower credit card fees may “weigh a bit” on net revenue and yield in the medium term, Macquarie said Tuesday in a report.
The payment processors agreed to reduce credit card fees and not increase them five years as part of a settlement of a long-running case between the companies and US merchants.
“While this may weigh a bit on net revenue and yield in the medium term, both [Visa] and [Mastercard] had accrued legal reserves in preceding years,” Macquarie said.
Shares of both companies were little changed as transaction fee pressure has been “a longstanding theme, well understood,” the brokerage said.
Visa closed down 0.2% Tuesday, and Mastercard rose 0.2%.