Interchange Fees Forum

From: The Washington Post

From: Wall Street Journal

by Robin Sidel

It isn’t every day an 11-branch bank in Iowa gets a financial leg up on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc.

West Bank Inc. in West Des Moines is likely to collect more money than the nation’s biggest banks each time a customer uses a debit card. The reason: About 7,300 of the 7,436 U.S. banks are untouched by the Durbin amendment, part of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul.

From: Credit Union Times

Editor’s Note:  Before European regulatory authorities enact new regulations setting price controls on interchange, they should learn from the US experience and recognize that: 1) price controls never protect consumers; and 2) a mandate that shifts card processing expenses from retailers to financial institutions will ultimately result in consumers picking up the tab.

From: Financial Times

By Alex Barker in Brussels

From: Supermarket News

WASHINGTON — Three industry associations, including Food Marketing Institute, filed a lawsuit in federal court here last week saying the Federal Reserve failed to follow the requirements of last year’s sweeping financial reforms when it set a cap on debit-card interchange fees this year.

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“FMI’s members will suffer significant and irreparable monetary injury directly traceable to the Board’s misconstruction of the statute,” George Green, FMI general counsel, said in a statement. “The bottom line is that we are fighting back against a rule that ignores the clear language in the law and will put more money in the pockets of the big banks at the expense of retailers and their customers.”