Debit Cards

Consumers brought holiday cheer back to merchants and payment processors in the run-up to Christmas this year, spending 5.5% more during the period than they did last year and giving signs that they are opening wallets and purses again after a long recession and rocky recovery. Especially noteworthy were sharp …

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 …

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, …

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 …

Financial-industry clients of Goldman Sachs & Co. are bracing for cuts of 40% to 60% in signature debit card interchange rates when the Federal Reserve Board releases its draft regulations for the controversial fee, possibly as soon as Thursday. Many of the investment-banking firm’s clients also expect the Fed to …

Companies are starting to bet that consumer interest in electronically delivered offers and rewards is spilling into the mobile channel. In the most recent example of this trend, Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based firm whose technology lets consumers redeem rewards by using a bank-issued payment card, this week announced a tie-in with …

While the electronic-payments industry waits for the Federal Reserve to come up with new debit card regulations, the Fed on Wednesday released results from its massive, triennial study of U.S. payments. The numbers show a dramatic rise in debit card transactions, coupled with an equally steep decline in check usage. …

Ominous or joyous interchange news, depending on your perspective, just rolled in from Europe. The European Commission, the antitrust authority in European Union nations, on Dec. 8 accepted Visa Europe’s proposal to reduce debit card interchange by up to 60% in nine countries. The EC’s action, while having no legal …

The turbulent regulatory and legal atmosphere enveloping the U.S. payment card industry is blowing the industry into camps of winners, losers, and those in between. The biggest losers: Visa and MasterCard, large debit card issuers, and consumers. Winners: merchant-funded rewards networks and big merchants. Also likely to gain in the …

Most of the chatter about who will win or lose when the Federal Reserve Board releases its debit card interchange regulations and related rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law centers on card issuers, payment networks, and merchants. But technology vendors are likely to be affected too. One company that …