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Dayton Business Journal...
Banks seek to delay
new debit fee rules
by Tucker Echols, DBJ Contributor
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Banks are seeking a delay in new debit card swipe fee rules.
Banks and debit card companies are reportedly boosting their lobbying
in Congress to remove or delay new rules for lower debit card swipe
fees.
The lobbying effort comes as the Federal Reserve faces a deadline in
April to write the rules for lower swipe fees — the hidden fees that
banks collect from retailers each time a customer makes a purchase with
a debit card, according to The New York Times.
Gerber Federal Credit Union of Fremont, Mich., is among the banks
arguing that the proposed cut in fees — to 12 cents per transaction
from an average of 44 cents — will force them to raise other consumer
banking charges to cover the costs, or not issue debit cards at all.
Capital One Financial Corp. is among the largest issuers of debit
cards. Capital One, along with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of
America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc., and U.S. Bancorp
processed $600 billion in purchases in 2009 Bloomberg News reported,
citing The Nilson Report. All of those financial firms have operations
in the Dayton region.
Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) is the largest bank in Dayton,
followed by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC). Other large
banks in the Dayton region that could be impacted by new fee rules
include Huntington Bancshares Inc. (Nasdaq: HBAN), KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY)
and First Financial Bancorp (Nasdaq: FFBC).
Lobbyists for retailers, including the the Merchants Payments
Coalition, counter that swipe fees stunt business growth and hurt
efforts to hire more workers and expand operations.
Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal
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