Banks seek work-around on debit card fee limits

For years, big banks have railed against legal regulations that cap how much they can charge for debit-card fees – and now some industry leaders are reportedly eyeing a potential deal that could help them skirt around those limits.

In recent months, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and PNC Financial Services Group have held tentative talks about a deal to acquire a network owned by fintech company Fiserv, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, known as the Durbin amendment, banks face caps on how much they can collect from merchants on debit-card transactions routed through an external network – but they are exempt from the rule if they also own the network.

There is no guarantee a deal will happen, and some of the banks that looked at the Fiserv network have already decided they are unlikely to move forward – while others are concerned about political backlash from regulators and merchants, sources told the Journal.

But the talks are a sign of how keen big banks are to hike transaction fees, especially after Capital One Financial completed its $50.6 billion acquisition of Discover Financial last year – securing its own network and allowing it to negotiate directly with merchants.

Wells Fargo, PNC and Fiserv declined to comment. JPMorgan and Bank of America did not immediately respond to noti.group’s requests for comment.

Each time a customer swipes their debit or credit card at a register, the business needs to pay a small percentage of the total check to that customer’s bank in what is known as an interchange, or “swipe,” fee.

The Durbin amendment, which was signed into law by former President Barack Obama, gave the Federal Reserve the power to set limits on these fees for banks with $10 billion or more in assets – and Wall Street has been lambasting the cap ever since.

Last year, US banks collected nearly $66 billion in credit- and debit-card interchange fees, accounting for roughly 11% of their noninterest income, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 

But banks have argued that caps have unfairly limited the amount of interchange-fee revenue they can collect, restricting their ability to cover costs for free checking accounts and debit-card rewards programs, which have grown rare since the legislation was passed.

Merchants, however, have argued the law helps keep prices down, and that savings from lower interchange fees are ultimately passed along to the consumer.

Businesses typically pay an average of 34 cents, or 0.73% of the transaction total, in interchange fees, according to the Federal Reserve.

They also have to pay several other fees associated with debit- and credit-card transactions, including assessment charges to card companies and processing fees. 

Processing fees are charged by networks like STAR and Accel, which are owned by Fiserv.