Fed Releases Report On Debit Card Network Pricing

The Federal Reserve Board on May 1 published comparative information on the average debit card interchange fees that each payment card network charges acquirers (and indirectly merchants) and provides to debit card issuers (see release).

As part of the rulemaking process, the board collected 2009 data from payment card networks. The aggregate data provided by the networks indicated that the average interchange fee for all issuers was 43 cents.

Data collected after the Fed reduced the interchange rate for large issuers on Oct. 1 show that the average interchange fee per transaction received by non-exempt issuers in the fourth quarter of 2011 declined substantially to 24 cents, while the average interchange fee received by exempt issuers was 43 cents. Issuers with less than $10 billion are exempt from the fee cut.

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