Interchange fees

Vice President Kamala Harris could stoke a conflict between bankers and merchants over interchange fees as she targets high food prices as part of her presidential campaign.

The American Bankers Association and the Illinois Bankers Association, among other groups, say a state law barring swipe fees for taxes and tips should be preempted by federal law.

Illinois' recent move to prohibit the inclusion of taxes and tips in credit card interchange fees suggests that electronic transactions are too expensive and also that there are too many entities working unilaterally to reduce those costs.

The Illinois state legislature, as part of an agreement with retailers to raise state tax revenue, passed a budget bill that would bar the collection of interchange fees on sales taxes, excise taxes and tips for transactions that would be subject to Illinois sales taxes.

The next major chance the lawmakers could have on the so-called "swipe fee" legislation will come next year as Congress looks toward a tax package.

Banks rely on fee income to a greater or lesser extent depending on business model, and the Biden administration is intent on cutting consumer fees across the economy. But that push might hamper another administration priority: financial inclusion.

Some analysts said that the Capital One-Discover deal would undercut the reasoning behind the Credit Card Competition Act — authored by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. — which aims to spur competition for Visa and Mastercard.

The Supreme Court justices grappled with the question of whether a newly formed company can challenge a regulatory rule after the six-year statute of limitations has expired, a decision that could have broad impact on plaintiffs' ability to challenge agency rules.

The recently announced merger of Capital One and Discover would create a credit card behemoth, but would also create a credible challenger to the Visa-Mastercard duopoly. Regulators will have to choose between having both or neither.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, have added Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., as cosponsors to a bill aimed at increasing credit card competition and lowering consumer fees.