FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 257-3678 craig@shearmancommunications.com
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2025 – Rapidly rising profits at four of the nation’s largest banks show the need for Congress to address the growing credit card “swipe” fees banks charge merchants to process transactions, the Merchants Payments Coalition said.
“Whether it’s annual fees charged directly to consumers or processing fees charged to merchants that drive up prices consumers pay, banks are taking more out of our pockets every day,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Retail Federation Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Stephanie Martz said. “Some Wall Street banks have profit margins 10 times as large as those seen by retailers, and they make those profits on the backs of small businesses struggling to keep their doors open. Congress needs to stand up for Main Street by bringing competition to our nation’s broken payments system.”
JPMorgan Chase reported last week that net profits for the third quarter were up 11.6% year over year and totaled $14.4 billion on revenue of $46.4 billion. JPMorgan is the nation’s largest bank and the largest U.S. issuer of Visa and Mastercard credit cards by dollar volume.
Meanwhile, No. 2 card issuer Citigroup said net profits were up 18.8% year over year at $3.8 billion on $22.1 billion in revenue while Wells Fargo, also a large card issuer, reported that net profits were up 9.3% at $5.6 billion on $21.4 billion in revenue. PNC said net profits were up 10.9% at $1.8 billion on $5.9 billion in revenue, and Chairman and CEO Bill Demchak attributed a 9% quarterly jump in fee income — from credit cards and other sources — for contributing to “another great quarter.”
Based on those figures, JPMorgan Chase had a profit margin of 31%, Citigroup 17.2%, Wells Fargo 26.1% and PNC 30.8%. Profits are even higher at Visa, at 56.9%, and Mastercard, at 45.7%, both as of July. By contrast, net profits for merchants average about 3% — one-tenth of JPMorgan’s or PNC’s profit margin. Visa makes nearly 20 times as much as some merchants.
The high profits are driven, in part, by lucrative credit card and debit card swipe fees, which have jumped 70% since the pandemic and hit a record $187.2 billion in 2024. Banks have also dramatically increased annual fees on premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which jumped from $550 a year to $795 in June. Premium cards also carry the highest swipe fee rates, often costing merchants 4% of the transaction rather than the 2.35% average.
The earnings reports come as Congress is considering the Credit Card Competition Act to address swipe fees, which are too much for small merchants to absorb and drive up prices by nearly $1,200 a year for the average family. The fees are rising largely because of lack of competition — Visa and Mastercard, which control 80% of the market, each centrally set the swipe fee rates charged by all banks that issue cards under their brands and restrict processing to their own networks.
Under the bill, banks with at least $100 billion in assets would enable credit cards to be processed over at least one unaffiliated network like Star, NYCE or Shazam in addition to Visa or Mastercard. The measure is expected to result in competition over fees, security and service that would save merchants and their customers $17 billion a year.
About MPC
The Merchants Payments Coalition represents retailers, supermarkets, convenience stores, gasoline stations, online merchants and others fighting for a more competitive and transparent card system that is fair to consumers and merchants. Follow MPC on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn for the latest on swipe fees.
