The U.S. Federal Reserves rules for debit-card transaction fees and processing should remain in place while the central bank appeals a decision throwing out the regulations, according to retailers who oppose the new directives.
Retailers vastly prefer the status quo to the unregulated free for all which would likely subject merchants to interchange fees well in excess of the Feds currents standard, lawyers for retail interests wrote in papers filed Aug. 28 in federal court in Washington.
The merchants filing was in support of the Feds Aug. 26 request that the rules be left in place pending the central banks appeal.
The Fed is seeking to reverse U.S. District Judge Richard Leons ruling that it wrongly set the cap on debit-card transaction fees, known as swipe fees, at about 21 cents for each transaction, and neglected to bolster competition among payment networks.
If the Fed loses the appeal, it should be required to issue new rules within four months, retailers said in their filing.
The case is NACS v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 11-cv-02075, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
