Visa, MasterCard Strike Back Against American Express

Visa and MasterCard’s push to boost payments to their partner banks amounts to a major counterpunch to American Express’s efforts to gain a foothold in the bank card market, Morgan Stanley analysts indicated Tuesday.

In report entitled “The Empire Strikes Back,” Morgan Stanley analysts said Visa and MasterCard’s higher payments, called interchange fees, “should take away most of the incentive for banks to partner with AmEx.”