Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
With much of the country buried in snow and ice on Wednesday, Visa Inc. released transaction and charge-volume numbers that likely warmed the predilections of electronic-payments watchers. The leading card network reported U.S. credit and debit card payments volume of $493 billion for its first quarter of fiscal 2011 ended …
Read More »Durbin Challenger Cooper of TCF Says, ‘I Told You So’
It was an “I-told-you-so moment” Thursday morning for William A. Cooper, the outspoken chairman and chief executive of TCF Financial Corp. Cooper said many bankers dismissed TCF’s assertion that the Federal Reserve Board, in carrying out the dictates of the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law’s Durbin Amendment, would cut debit card interchange …
Read More »PayPal Sees Durbin As ‘Neutral to Positive’ for Foreseeable Future
The drastic reduction in debit card interchange revenue mandated by the Durbin Amendment will be somewhat favorable for PayPal Inc., an official with the e-commerce processor’s parent company said on Wednesday. “In the short and the medium term, we believe it’ll probably be neutral to positive on our performance,” said …
Read More »Acquirers Will Benefit from Durbin, But Gain Could be Short-Lived
In the wake of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed interchange caps for debit cards, as well as Visa Inc.’s decision to introduce dual interchange tables for debit, much discussion has focused on the impact of radically reduced interchange income on issuing banks. But an often overlooked factor concerns just how …
Read More »Visa Commits to a Two-Tier Debit Card Interchange Structure
In an apparent effort to calm its smaller debit card issuers, Visa Inc. says it will develop a two-tier interchange schedule, one with regulated rates arising from the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law and the other with unregulated rates applicable to banks and credit unions with fewer than $10 billion in assets. …
Read More »Sharp Comments Flow into Fed in Wake of Interchange Proposals
The comments are flowing in to the Federal Reserve Board in the wake of the board’s controversial proposals to set a 12-cent cap on debit card interchange, ban exclusive network agreements on debit cards, and give merchants more freedom to direct the routing of debit transactions. To a large degree, …
Read More »The Scope of Debit Regulation Could Range Far Afield, Report Shows
Payments-industry executives and media reports have devoted most of their attention to the big debit card interchange cuts and network-routing aspects of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit regulations that roiled the industry last week. But, given the Fed’s long list of requests for comment, the regulations in final form …
Read More »U.S. Treasury Issues Final Rule on Electronic Benefits Payments
In a move that could bring millions of new users to a popular prepaid card program, the U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday issued a final rule mandating that Social Security and other government benefits be paid to beneficiaries electronically. Under the new rule, beneficiaries will receive direct deposits …
Read More »Durbin-Inspired Survey Gives a Rare Look into Debit Cards
No matter how you feel about the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed 7-to-12-cent cap on debit card interchange and plans for breaking up exclusive debit-network affiliations, the regulatory process has produced some previously unavailable measurements of the booming debit industry. Ahead of writing the proposed rules that it unveiled last week, …
Read More »Debit Interchange Would Get a 12-Cent Cap Under Fed Proposals
Debit card interchange fees would take a draconian cut under two proposals that the Federal Reserve Board floated on Thursday. Both would set caps of 12 cents per transaction, caps that would take most of the profit out of many transactions, especially signature debit. The board also left open the …
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