BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed on Tuesday a decree seeking to lower intermediation costs in the country’s multi-billion-real meal voucher market, which will cap card processor fees and shorten settlement periods.

Meal and food vouchers move about 170 billion reais ($31.46 billion) annually in Brazil under the Worker Food Program (PAT), created in 1976 to grant tax benefits to companies providing meals to formal employees, covering more than 22 million workers.

Four companies – Ticket-owner Edenred, Sodexo operator Pluxee, and privately-owned Alelo and VR – currently control about 85% of the market in Latin America’s largest economy.

The government so far has refrained from enforcing previous legislation that would effectively open the sector to

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