The Merchant Payment Coalition argues that the PULSE 2013 Debit Issuer Study did not include enough small asset issuers to draw any conclusions about small issuer interchange.

The PULSE ATM/Debit Network is a Discover-owned network which includes large banks, community banks and credit unions.

Its most recent study found that smaller asset debit issuers took a two-cent hit to their debit card interchange on a per transaction basis as a result of the debit interchange cap put into place by the Durbin Amendment.

The organization of retailers and retail associations formed to advocate for lower card interchange took issue with the study on the grounds that it included only 38 smaller asset debit card issuers and because PULSE has not yet released any data about how those issuers were chosen.

“We don't know whether there was bias in their selection or whether they were representative of the segment as a whole,” observed Doug Kantor, counsel to the MPC. Kantor also observed that the study held that the financial institutions surveyed were still making money from their debit programs, even if turned out that debit interchange slipped on a per transaction basis, a suggestion Kantor did not accept.

Kantor pointed out that federal agencies have not found similar results from their studying of the issue and he added that, unlike PULSE, the Federal Reserve can gather data from all banks.

“The Fed has a lot more data,” he said.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.