July 6 (Reuters) – U.S. banks, including JPMorgan and Bank of America, have in recent months held early talks about a deal to buy a network owned by the payments firm Fiserv that could allow them to bypass federal debit-card fee caps, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources.
• The cap banks are reported to be looking to sidestep traces back to the 2010 Durbin Amendment, which limits the fees large banks can collect from merchants on debit-card transactions when routed through an outside network. However, banks would be exempt from that cap if they also own the network, the WSJ report said.
• Other banks that have held preliminary and tentative discussions include Wells Fargo and PNC Financial Services Group, the report added.
• The report sent Fiserv’s shares up 4.3% in after-hours trading.
• Several of the companies that looked at the Fiserv network have already decided it would be unlikely for them to move forward, as they expressed concern that such a deal could prompt backlash from lawmakers, regulators and merchants, the report added.
• JPMorgan declined to comment, while Fiserv, BofA, Wells Fargo and PNC Financial did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside regular business hours.
(Reporting by Natalia Bueno Rebolledo in Mexico City; Editing by Maju Samuel and Rashmi Aich)
