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The American Bankers Association called on the Federal Reserve Board Monday to revise its debit interchange rule by considering a broader range of costs necessary to maintain the system.
June 20 -
Bankers lost the Senate fight over interchange fees, but they are hoping the vote will help convince the Federal Reserve Board to raise its proposed 12-cent cap.
June 13 -
Although banks failed in their attempt to convince Congress to delay an interchange fee cap for debit cards, the financial services industry is not giving up, just changing venues.
June 8 -
In a nail-biting conclusion after weeks of fierce lobbying by bankers and retailers, the Senate defeated a bill Wednesday that would have delayed the Federal Reserve Board's proposal to cap interchange fees for debit cards.
June 8 -
Banks appeared to be gaining the upper hand in their battle against retailers to delay pending interchange fee caps, but the fight was far from over.
June 7
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday suggested raising the debit interchange fee cap to 21 cents per transaction — but gave banks a little bit of leeway to charge even more if they meet certain fraud prevention standards.
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In addition, the Fed said it would allow banks to charge a 5 basis point "ad valorem" charge to account for fraud costs.
For example, for a $38 debit transaction, a bank can charge 21 cents plus 1 cent for fraud prevention, if qualified. Additionally, under the rule, they could charge 5 basis points of the amount of the transaction, in this case 1.9 cents. The total debit interchange fee in this scenario would be 24 cents.
In the end, the Fed appeared willing to allow more flexibility than expected, with most estimates suggesting the central bank would set a hard cap of 20 cents.
Although banks would prefer to avoid any interchange fee limit, the final rule is a partial victory for them. Banks had been arguing since December that the proposed 12-cent cap was too low and did not adequately take into account the costs involved. In its final rule, the Fed clearly agreed.
Banks also received extra time to comply with the rule, which under Dodd-Frank was supposed to go into effect on July 21. Instead, banks will have to comply with the new limits on Oct. 1.
The central bank has been under pressure by banks, credit unions and others to elevate its cap under a provision introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin in the Dodd-Frank Act. The agency received more than 11,000 comments prompting the Fed to ask for more time by Congress to evaluate all of the letters before crafting a final rule ahead of the July 21 effective date.
The 9 cent lift is a significant improvement, but still falls short of the industry's average of 44 cents per transaction.
The Fed decided to raise the fee cap largely because it included other costs than were covered in its initial proposal. In the rule, the Fed said the 21-cent base cap accounts for: network connectivity costs, costs of hardware, software and labor, and transaction monitoring costs. It also addressed another industry point by allowing banks to charge 5 basis points to account for fraud losses.
