新法案はカード会社に打撃（米） ― take a hit

消費者がクレジットカードを使用する場合に、カードが使用できる最低価格を売り手側が自由に設定できるなどとする法案がアメリカ上院で可決されたようです。

これにより、消費者のクレジットカード利用が落ち込むことが予想され、VISAやMasterCardなどのクレジットカード会社が打撃を受けるという予測がされているそうです。


A growing source of profit for card companies could take a hit from a Senate proposal that would give the Federal Reserve authority over the fees charged to merchants on debit-card transactions and give merchants more authority to bargain.

The Senate on Thursday passed in a bipartisan vote two amendments to the financial reform bill that sent shares of the credit-card issuers lower Friday. The proposal could give merchants and shop owners the authority to impose minimum purchase amounts and would give the Fed authority to regulate the fees charged per swipe. Those rules could drive consumers away from using their debit cards on smaller purchases, an area that had been rapidly growing and can be very profitable for the likes of Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA).

Visa shares dropped 8.8% to $78.23 as the company has the largest share of U.S. debit-card purchases, while MasterCard fell 7.7% to $214.50. Meanwhile, other debit-card operators also declined, as Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) fell 5.6% to $42.41 and Discover Financial Services (DFS) fell 2.2% to $14.46.
(David Benoit. UPDATE: US Senate Swipe-Fee Plan Raises Fears For Card Cos. Wall Street Journal. May 14, 2010.)


アメリカに行くとスーパーマーケットでのちょっとした買い物でもクレジットカードを利用する人が多いことに気がつきますが、カード会社にとってはその部分が失われることで利益上の打撃を免れない、ということのようです。