Yeah it’s the US credit card fees that are the real problem. No reasonable person would argue that Visa should get to be a 3% tax on all consumer financial activity.
It's not as simple: Visa and Mastercard don't get the 3%; the issuing banks do.
But Visa and Mastercard effectively set the rates, and the higher they are, the more issuer business they get; meanwhile merchants are essentially never in a position to reject either Visa or Mastercard (notable exception Costco confirming the general rule), so market forces are pretty one-sided.
I think if Visa and Mastercard were three-party networks like Amex or Discover (now Capital One), their interchange would have long been regulated down by >90%.
French companies pay social contributions (~45% of the full salary) via Visa and MasterCard, and the French authorities are making it nearly impossible to pay these by wire transfer.
But Visa and Mastercard effectively set the rates, and the higher they are, the more issuer business they get; meanwhile merchants are essentially never in a position to reject either Visa or Mastercard (notable exception Costco confirming the general rule), so market forces are pretty one-sided.
I think if Visa and Mastercard were three-party networks like Amex or Discover (now Capital One), their interchange would have long been regulated down by >90%.