Law and regulation

As it looks to generate more revenue and to enable issuers of its cards to better analyze their customers’ transactions, MasterCard Worldwide is exploring ways to secure more volume for its processing switch from cards carrying the network’s brand, especially outside the U.S., Chris McWilton, MasterCard president of U.S. Markets, said during a March 1 presentation.

A director of a Buffalo, N.Y. collection agency has been sentenced to two years probation and fined $28,000 after he admitted selling personal information to fraudulent debt collectors.

WASHINGTON — Just a month ago, most analysts dismissed the banking industry's chances of persuading Congress to delay, alter or repeal a Dodd-Frank provision limiting interchange fees on debit cards.

The Asian Development Bank reportedly has asked Philippines President Benigno Aquino III to consider giving tax breaks to credit cardholders in the country to encourage more card use.

Authorities discovered nine card-skimming devices attached to local ATMs last week that caused thousands of dollars of fraud losses to area institutions, including $5,538 in fraudulent cash withdrawals from members’ accounts at Hughes Federal Credit Union.

The Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge to shut down an operation that allegedly blasted consumers with millions of illegal spam text messages, including many messages that deceptively advertised a mortgage modification Web site called “Loanmod-gov.net.”

Banks are looking beyond consumers to Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. to share the pain of lower interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rates are unlikely to go into effect this summer without some significant changes, the co-chief of a large independent service organization speculates.

WASHINGTON — A year after the credit card reform law was enacted, Elizabeth Warren, the administration's official in charge with setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said the industry has improved its practices and warned against over regulation of the card market.

The Federal Reserve Board and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are asking a federal judge to dismiss TCF Financial Corp.'s lawsuit, which seeks to block implementation of the Durbin amendment.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is considering limiting the size of purchases allowed on its debit cards in response to the Federal Reserve Board's proposed cap on interchange fees.

Wary ISOs and acquirers are putting hiring and other plans on hold as they await the Federal Reserve Board's final version of new debit card interchange rules, which likely will reconfigure their revenue streams.

While hope is rising in some quarters that lawmakers may direct the Federal Reserve Board to delay or avoid implementation of its proposed debit card interchange rates, a large national merchants’ association sees little chance of lawmakers derailing the proposed rules.

The United Arab Emirates is planning a series of enforceable regulations that will put more teeth into prohibitions against merchants assessing surcharges on credit card purchases.

WASHINGTON – Nearly seven months after passing a bill that included a measure to limit interchange fees on debit cards, lawmakers today were expressing buyer’s remorse.

Having successfully nudged lawmakers to reconsider interchange caps, card issuers and payments networks are weighing the ramifications of another, less-discussed part of the Durbin amendment: so-called steering rules.

Decoupled-debit card programs could see a surge of fresh interest from merchants and consumers if the Federal Reserve Board’s new debit-interchange rules go through as proposed, the purveyor of one such alternative payment scheme insists.

Revenues earned by credit unions from debit card interchange is far more than was previously thought – an estimated $2.6 billion for 2010 – according to CUNA, which is preparing testimony for tomorrow’s Congressional hearing on interchange legislation.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed doubt this morning on the workability of exemptions for credit unions and small banks from the debit interchange price controls required under the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.

Visa Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it has retained counsel and said it is weighing its next moves in fighting debit interchange regulation, but it stopped short of specifying what strategies it might use in the weeks ahead.