he effects of Visa and MasterCard's $3 billion combined settlement with Wal-Mart and other major retailers are undulating throughout the financial services industry like ripples on a pond.

· Minneapolis bank TFC Financial Corp. objects to Visa's settlement with retailers and filed a "motion to intervene" with the presiding judge, U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson in New York. The motion seeks a hearing with Gleeson before the settlement is finalized.

TFC's concern is that Visa's settlement will hinder banks (such as TFC) that issue a large quantity of debit cards and typically benefit from the fees Visa charges merchants. The bank alleges that Visa and merchants that accept debit cards have a "memorandum of understanding" that sets short-term limits on rates merchants pay to Visa and member banks. In its complaint, TFC argues that debit card fees "should not be set by lawyers negotiating in a room" and that "new pricing should be set by the marketplace."

TFC also objects to the fact that the settlement is focused only on debit cards, not credit cards, arguing that Visa's debit card issuers (such as TFC) carry the burden for price changes, not the credit card issuers.

· Paycom Billing Services, Inc. filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against MasterCard International alleging antitrust violations, fraud and excessive fees. Paycom processes credit card and check transactions for Internet merchants, most of which are adult-themed and considered high risk in the industry. The company is seeking at least $23 million in damages.

In the lawsuit, Paycom also complains that it is unfair for online merchants to pay for losses from fraudulent transactions (where the customer is not physically present) when credit card issuers do not require merchants to pay for losses from fraudulent transactions (where the customer is present). Paycom did not include Visa in its lawsuit, saying Visa's fees and penalties for chargebacks are more reasonable than MasterCard's.

· MasterCard and Visa argued in a New York district appellate court to try to overturn a 2001 ruling in a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. The court ordered Visa and MasterCard to eliminate their policies that prevent banks issuing Visa- and MasterCard-branded credit cards from also issuing American Express branded cards.