[xadhominemx]

> US card transaction processing fees are higher than in most peer nations. … It's how Visa ($540 billion market cap) can be worth more than the world's most valuable banks

I’m sorry you are just wrong. Classic HN Dunning–Kruger.

Visa and MasterCard make their money two ways — network and cross-border transaction fees. For ordinary (non-cross-border) transactions, V/MC have a very small take, on the order of .1-.2%. The vast majority of the fees go to interchange collected by the issuing bank and then to transaction fees to the merchant acquirer (eg Square). Interchange is paid back out to customers in the form of rewards at very low (or zero) margin; issuing banks make their money when customers revolve on their lines of credit.