Fed Releases List of Small Issuers Exempt from Debit Card Interchange Fees

Federal Issues Federal Reserve Debit Cards EFTA

On May 22, the Federal Reserve Board announced its lists of institutions that either are or are not exempt from the its debit card interchange fee standards found in Regulation II, which implements section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). The lists are intended to facilitate compliance by assisting payment card networks and others in determining which issuers qualify for the statutory exemption. The lists were generated from available data and contain institutions in existence on Dec. 31, 2016. Exempt institutions, together with their affiliates, have reported assets of less than $10 billion and are not subject to the interchange fee standards under the statute. Institutions that are not exempt have, either individually or together with their affiliates, reported assets of $10 billion or more, and therefore must comply with the interchange fee standards under the statute. Debit card issuers that do not appear on either of the lists must certify to their participating payment card networks that they are exempt from the interchange fee standards. The EFTA requires the Fed to biennially report on interchange fee revenue and costs incurred by debit card issuers and payment card networks. The Fed’s last report—for calendar-year 2015—cites interchange fees across all debit and general-use prepaid cards totaled $18.41 billion.