Interchange fees at institutions covered by the rule dropped to an average of 24 cents per transaction during the final three months of 2011.
The Federal Reserve said Tuesday it does not plan to change the rules governing the fees debit-card issuers receive from merchants, following a new report that showed sharp declines for most swipe fees, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Durbin amendment, named for Senator Richard Durbin (D.-Ill.), and part of the Dodd-Frank financial law, directed the Fed to limit swipe fees. As of October 2011, the fees were capped at about 21 cents a transaction versus a previous average of 44 cents. The law does not impact debit card issuers with assets less than $10 billion.
Payment card networks processed 46.7 billion debit card transactions valued at $1.82 trillion in the U.S. during 2011, the Fed reported. More than one-third of all debit card transactions were processed by issuers that were exempt from the interchange fee standard.
Interchange fees at institutions covered by the rule dropped to an average of 24 cents per transaction during the final three months of 2011, marking a 52% decrease from the 50 cent average during the first nine months of that year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, at banks not covered under the law, issuers saw an average interchange fee of 43 cents per transaction, which marked a 4% decline from the first nine months of 2011.
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday published the report containing summary information on the volume and value, interchange fee revenue, certain debit card issuer costs, and fraud losses related to debit card transactions in 2011. The report is the second in a series to be published every two years pursuant to section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA).
