Saturday, April 22, 2006

Fed won' t set interchange fees

Nice article here at ATM Marketplace News:
The Federal Reserve said last week it won’t intervene in the growing market of card interchange fees, now as much as $30 billion a year.

A Fed official said the United States’ central bank should not get involved in the conflict going on between the two major card companies, Visa USA and MasterCard International, and the merchants.

...

Speaking at Washington, D.C.’s Credit Union National Association Payment Systems Conference last week, Weiner acknowledged that the Fed has been asked by various groups to referee the ongoing battle. But, he said, the Fed would only intervene if a crisis or other emergency arises.