Debit Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011 - Amends the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to extend from 9 months after the date of enactment of the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 to 24 months after the date of enactment of this Act the rulemaking timelines and effective dates for the proposed debit interchange (swipe) rule of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) that is required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Declares void and without legal effect any regulation proposed or prescribed by the Board pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act before the date that is 6 months after completion of the study required by this Act.
Directs specified banking regulatory agencies (study agencies) to study jointly and report to certain congressional committees regarding the impact of regulating debit interchange transaction (swipe) fees and related issues under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. Prescribes study contents including the costs and benefits of electronic debit card transactions (EDTs) and alternative forms of payment, including cash, check, and automated clearing house (ACH) for consumers, merchants, issuers, and debit card networks.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 575 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 575
To study the market and appropriate regulatory structure for electronic
debit card transactions, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 15, 2011
Mr. Tester (for himself, Mr. Corker, Mr. Carper, Mr. Roberts, Mr.
Coons, Mr. Lee, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Thune,
and Mr. Coburn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To study the market and appropriate regulatory structure for electronic
debit card transactions, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Debit Interchange Fee Study Act of
2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) in response to the proposed debit interchange rule of
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System mandated
by section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act, the Chairman of Board, the Comptroller
of the Currency, the Chairperson of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, and the Chairman of the National Credit
Union Administration Board have publicly raised concerns about
the impact of the proposed rule;
(2) while testifying before the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate on February 17, 2011,
the Chairman of the Board stated in response to questions about
the small bank exemption to the interchange rule, ``. . . there
is some risk that the exemption will not be effective and that
the interchange fees available through smaller institutions
will be reduced to the same extent we would see for larger
banks'';
(3) the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, in comments to
the Board, cited safety and soundness concerns and stated, ``.
. . we believe the proposal takes an unnecessarily narrow
approach to recovery of costs that would be allowable under the
law and that are recognized and indisputably part of conducting
a debit card business. This has long-term safety and soundness
consequences--for banks of all sizes . . .'';
(4) the chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation stated in comments to the Board regarding the
proposed rule their concern that the small bank exemption would
not work, stating, ``. . . we are concerned that these
institutions may not actually receive the benefit of the
interchange fee limit exemption explicitly provided by
Congress, resulting in a loss of income for community banks and
ultimately higher banking costs for their customers'';
(5) the chairman of the National Credit Union
Administration Board, in comments to the Board, cited concern
with making sure there are ``meaningful exemptions for smaller
card issuers''; and
(6) all of the comments and concerns raised by the banking
and credit union regulatory agencies cast serious questions
about the practical implementation of section 1075 of the Dodd-
Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and
further study and consideration are needed.
SEC. 3. RULEMAKING AND EFFECTIVE DATES.
(a) Extension for Rulemaking Timelines and Revised Effective
Date.--Section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C.
1693o-2) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(3)(A), by striking ``9 months after
the date of enactment of the Consumer Financial Protection Act
of 2010'' and inserting ``24 months after the date of enactment
of the Debit Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011'';
(2) in subsection (a)(5)(B)(i), by striking ``9 months
after the date of enactment of the Consumer Financial
Protection Act of 2010'' and inserting ``24 months after the
date of enactment of the Debit Interchange Fee Study Act of
2011'';
(3) in subsection (a)(8)(C), by striking ``9-month period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010'' and inserting ``24-month
period beginning on the date of enactment of the Debit
Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011'';
(4) in subsection (a)(9), by striking ``12-month period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010'' and inserting ``30-month
period beginning on the date of enactment of the Debit
Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011'';
(5) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ``1-year period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010'' and inserting ``24-month
period beginning on the date of enactment of the Debit
Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011''; and
(6) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by striking ``1-year period
beginning on the date of the enactment of the Consumer
Financial Protection Act of 2010'' and inserting ``24-month
period beginning on the date of enactment of the Debit
Interchange Fee Study Act of 2011''.
(b) Earlier Rulemaking Voided; New Rulemaking Required.--Any
regulation proposed or prescribed by the Board pursuant to section 920
of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall
Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) prior to the date that is 6
months after the date of completion of the study required under section
4 shall be withdrawn by the Board and shall have no legal effect.
SEC. 4. STUDY.
(a) Study Required.--Not later than 12 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the study agencies shall jointly submit a report
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate
and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives
regarding the impact of regulating debit interchange transaction fees
and related issues under section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer
Act.
(b) Subjects for Review.--In conducting the study required by this
section, the study agencies shall examine the state of the debit
interchange payment system, including the impact of section 920 of the
Electronic Fund Transfer Act on consumers, entities that accept debit
cards as payment, all financial institutions that issue debit cards,
including small issuers, and debit card networks, and shall
specifically examine--
(1) the costs and benefits of electronic debit card
transactions and alternative forms of payment, including cash,
check, and automated clearing house (ACH) for consumers,
merchants, issuers, and debit card networks, including--
(A) individual consumer protections, ease of
acceptance, payment guarantee, and security provided
through such forms of payments for consumers;
(B) costs and benefits associated with acceptance,
handling, and processing of different forms of
payments, including labor, security, verification, and
collection where applicable;
(C) the extent to which payment form impacts
incremental sales and ticket sizes for merchants;
(D) all direct and indirect costs associated with
fraud prevention, detection, and mitigation, including
data breach and identity theft, and the overall costs
of fraud incurred by debit card issuers and merchants,
and how those costs are distributed among those
parties; and
(E) financial liability and payment guarantee for
debit card transactions and associated risks and costs
incurred by debit card issuers and merchants, and how
those costs are distributed among those parties;
(2) the structure of the current debit interchange system,
including--
(A) the extent to which the current structure
offers merchants and issuers, particularly smaller
merchants and issuers sufficient competitive
opportunities to participate and negotiate in the debit
interchange system;
(B) an examination of the benefits of allowing
interchange fees to be determined in bilateral
negotiations between merchants and issuers, including
small issuers directly;
(C) mechanisms for allowing more price discovery
and transparency on the part of the consumer; and
(D) the ability of new competitors to enter the
payment systems market and an examination into whether
structural barriers to entry exist; and
(3) the impact of the proposed rule reducing debit card
interchange fees issued by the Board entitled, ``Debit Card
Interchange Fees and Routing'' (75 Fed. Reg. 81,722 (Dec. 28,
2010)), if such proposed rule were adopted without change,
including--
(A) the impact on consumers, including whether
consumers would benefit from reduced interchanges fees
through reduced retail prices;
(B) the impact on lower and moderate income
consumers and on small businesses with respect to the
cost and accessibility of payment accounts and
services, the availability of credit, and what
alternative forms of financing are available and the
cost of such financing;
(C) the impact on consumer protection, including
anti-fraud, customer identification efforts, and
privacy protection;
(D) the impact of reduced debit card interchange
fees on merchants, including a comparison of the impact
on small merchants versus large merchants;
(E) the potential consequences to merchants if
reduced debit interchange fees result in elimination of
the payment guarantee or other reductions in debit card
services to merchants or shift consumers to other forms
of payments;
(F) the impact of significantly reduced debit card
interchange fees on debit card issuers and the services
and rates they provide, if fees do not adequately
recoup costs and investments made by issuers and the
potential impact on the safety and soundness of
issuers;
(G) whether it is possible to exempt or treat
differently a certain class of issuers within the debit
interchange system, such as small issuers and the
impact of market forces on such treatment;
(H) the extent to which a transition to a fee cap
from an interchange fee that is proportional to the
overall cost of a transaction could provide a
reasonable rate of return for issuers and adequately
cover fraud and related costs;
(I) the impact on other entities that utilize debit
card transactions, including the debit card programs of
Federal and State entities;
(J) the impact of shifting debit transaction
routing from card issuers to merchants, including
resulting changes to interchange fees and costs for
card issuers; and
(K) the impact of mandating a specific number of
enabled networks on merchants and debit card issuers,
including the specific and unique impact on small
issuers.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means the Board of Governors
of the Federal Reserve System.
(2) Study agencies.--The term ``study agencies'' means the
Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the National Credit
Union Administration.
(3) Small issuers.--The term ``small issuers'' means debit
card issuers that are depository institutions, including
community banks and credit unions, with assets of less than
$10,000,000,000.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
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