A U.S. judge has sided with retailers seeking a lower cap on fees charged by banks for debit card transactions in a key ruling that dragged down the shares of card companies Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc. Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve had ignored the intent Congress when it capped the fees banks can charge retailers when their customers use debit cards. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law called for limits on those fees. Retailers have since argued that the Fed's cap of 21 cents per transaction was higher than Congress intended. "Today's decision ... is a victory for consumers and small business around the country and will lead to lower interchange rates for billions of debit card transactions each year," said Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who introduced the swipe fee provision to Dodd-Frank. The ruling caused the shares of the two largest payment network operators to plunge. Visa and MasterCard
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