Taken from this google alert:
Seven & I Holdings Co. (3382.TO) said Friday that it will set up e-money reader terminals at its group stores starting this autumn in a bid to lay the groundwork for accepting different types of electronic cash.
The Japanese retail giant, which operates Seven-Eleven convenience stores in Japan, said it will install "multi-reader writers" in registers at 11,000 of its stores. The reader system, developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (6752.TO), will allow customers to pay with Seven & I's "nanaco" prepaid e-money available next year, as well as with JCB Co.'s QUICPay pay-later e-money service.
So Japan is well up to the non-cash e-money types. And in doing so the Japanese market is living proof of the inevitable interoperability and acceptance of multiple cards at one location.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
ABN AMRO will issue securer debit cards as of June 2006
ABN AMRO announced yesterday that it will start equipping (as the first bank in the Netherlands) its bank debit cards with an EMV chip. Earlier this year, all ABN AMRO's Dutch ATMs were made EMV-compliant.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Another innovation on the basis of iDEAL: Paydutch...
Planet Multimedia reports that PayDutch will introduce a light-weight escrow service for securing Internet payments. The system is based on the iDEAL internet-payments functionality of Dutch banks. For 1 euro per transaction, a buyer can get added security by paying/escrowing via PayDutch. Once the goods have arrived in good shape, PayDutch will forward the money to the seller.
It will be interesting to see if this light-weight type of escrow will fly...
It will be interesting to see if this light-weight type of escrow will fly...
Friday, May 12, 2006
Dutch slow in migration to EMV, according to terminal supplier CCV
Today one of the most important terminal suppliers and processors in the Netherlands, CCV, briefed the public (see nu.nl) that the Netherlands are getting behind in the migration to EMV. And despite the fact that current fraud cost in the Dutch debit card system are still very low, CCV appears to use fear tactics and points out that we face a possibility that magnetic stripe debit-card fraud will move to the Netherlands.
While at face value there appears to be a bit of self-interest here, with CCV being one of the major terminal suppliers, CCV's self-interest will not be the major issue. No single supplier of goods will be seeking publicity to boost sales if at the same time he has no goods available. And that is the case: CCV has not a single EMV compliant terminal for the Dutch market available.
So what is happening here?
We need to keep in mind that CCV is dependent on Interpay for the certification of its terminals. So my guess is that it's more likely that CCV tries to fire up Interpay to get going with the certification.
While at face value there appears to be a bit of self-interest here, with CCV being one of the major terminal suppliers, CCV's self-interest will not be the major issue. No single supplier of goods will be seeking publicity to boost sales if at the same time he has no goods available. And that is the case: CCV has not a single EMV compliant terminal for the Dutch market available.
So what is happening here?
We need to keep in mind that CCV is dependent on Interpay for the certification of its terminals. So my guess is that it's more likely that CCV tries to fire up Interpay to get going with the certification.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
First mobile chip terminal approved in Danmark
See the press release from PBS:
Elite 8200 GPRS, which is the name of the approved mobile chip terminal, is sold by LD Betalingssystemer A/S. Using a chip the terminal's transaction time is ten seconds, which is the same level as a magnetic stripe-based transaction.
Actually, those ten seconds is a long wait from a Dutch perspective. In the Netherlands we have an option pre-authorisation meaning that you do the pin-code and stripe thing while the cashier is still checking yout items. So once the amount is known, we only have to key in YES and the transaction is on the way and approved in 2-3 seconds. But for a mobile terminal it's not so bad.
Elite 8200 GPRS, which is the name of the approved mobile chip terminal, is sold by LD Betalingssystemer A/S. Using a chip the terminal's transaction time is ten seconds, which is the same level as a magnetic stripe-based transaction.
Actually, those ten seconds is a long wait from a Dutch perspective. In the Netherlands we have an option pre-authorisation meaning that you do the pin-code and stripe thing while the cashier is still checking yout items. So once the amount is known, we only have to key in YES and the transaction is on the way and approved in 2-3 seconds. But for a mobile terminal it's not so bad.
Background paper on Dutch interbank switching service
Payments News has seen this one background paper pop up even before I did. It's a paper that describes the functionality and experiences of the so-called Interbank Switch Support Service (Overstapservice). This service started in december 2003 and aims to facilitate account holders who want to move their payments relationship from one bank to another, thus increasing customer mobility and lowering switching costs for current accounts.
As an explanation Simon Lelieveldt (of the Dutch bankers association) points out:
-In Europe bank number portability between banks is technically impossible; changing from bank while sticking with the same account number would -even if this happens within a country- mean that still the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) changes. And the IBAN is the central key for payments in Europe (most certainly for the future). For that reason even the European Commission has abandoned the idea of number portability.
-This switching service does not attempt to achieve such account number portability but a more pragmatic solution, targeted at the group that actually wishes to switch (65.000 per year on a total number of 20.000.000 accounts).
It would be interesting to know which other countries have the same experience in switching. But perhaps the EU commission will find out as a part of their work on user mobility, announced in the green paper on financial services.
As an explanation Simon Lelieveldt (of the Dutch bankers association) points out:
-In Europe bank number portability between banks is technically impossible; changing from bank while sticking with the same account number would -even if this happens within a country- mean that still the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) changes. And the IBAN is the central key for payments in Europe (most certainly for the future). For that reason even the European Commission has abandoned the idea of number portability.
-This switching service does not attempt to achieve such account number portability but a more pragmatic solution, targeted at the group that actually wishes to switch (65.000 per year on a total number of 20.000.000 accounts).
It would be interesting to know which other countries have the same experience in switching. But perhaps the EU commission will find out as a part of their work on user mobility, announced in the green paper on financial services.
Further expansion of iDEAL
Two separate initiatives were made public last week. First of all Planet reports that payment service provider Mollie has chosen to repackage the functionality of iDEAL (on-line payment via Dutch bank account on the web) so that the only thing a web-merchant pays is a percentage of the value. No set up fee, no maintainance fee, just this percentage. To make this work, Mollie has made an agreement with ABN AMRO Bank so that it ABN AMRO does the routing of the payments and Mollie does the reconciliation, contacts with merchants etcetera.
Then, a week later, Emerce updates us with the news that Rabobank will introduce an iDEAL lite version. This version has lower maintainance fees and higher transaction fees. In the article, Postbank and ING stated that they will not introduce a light version. With Postbank/ING there is no maintainance fee to start with.
Quite a nice demonstration of innovation and competition in the payments market.
Then, a week later, Emerce updates us with the news that Rabobank will introduce an iDEAL lite version. This version has lower maintainance fees and higher transaction fees. In the article, Postbank and ING stated that they will not introduce a light version. With Postbank/ING there is no maintainance fee to start with.
Quite a nice demonstration of innovation and competition in the payments market.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
P&S News: 38 Joint statement on SEPA
Most interesting log in the P&S News 38 is the link to the Joint statement from the European Commission and the European Central Bank. As I mentioned before on this blog, it is quite alarming to note that two EU institutions claim to be fully aligned on the topic of the future of payments in Europe.
Luckily there is this last frase that outlines that in this self chosen marriage, the European Commission lies on top:
The Commission and the ECB support to the greatest possible extent continued self-regulation by the industry, but given the importance and the size of the social and economic benefits of SEPA, the Commission expressly reserves the right to introduce or propose necessary legislation to achieve it.
Meaning: the Commission doesn't care any bit aboul all the banking industry stuff and ECB-bla bla. They will regulate, no matter what reality tells them. And as to the cost of this regulation (which will sooner or later end up in banks prices): they won't hesitate to blame it to the banks anti-competitive behaviour.
Luckily there is this last frase that outlines that in this self chosen marriage, the European Commission lies on top:
The Commission and the ECB support to the greatest possible extent continued self-regulation by the industry, but given the importance and the size of the social and economic benefits of SEPA, the Commission expressly reserves the right to introduce or propose necessary legislation to achieve it.
Meaning: the Commission doesn't care any bit aboul all the banking industry stuff and ECB-bla bla. They will regulate, no matter what reality tells them. And as to the cost of this regulation (which will sooner or later end up in banks prices): they won't hesitate to blame it to the banks anti-competitive behaviour.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Even Chip and PIN under attack in the retail environment
In the Netherlands, the latest news is that retailer environments are subject to terminal fraud. Whereas the ATM's are now hard to tampr with, the criminals now replace and rigg the pin-terminal at the Point of Sale to collect magstripe data and PIN's. In doing so they act as legitimate technicians.
Ian informs us that the same happened in the UK, but then with chip and pin terminals. That's a bit sooner a fraud on Chip and PIN than most expected I guess.
Ian informs us that the same happened in the UK, but then with chip and pin terminals. That's a bit sooner a fraud on Chip and PIN than most expected I guess.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Is the discussion on critical mass for SEPA critical ?
In a uncanny demonstration of unity and shared vision, the European Central Bank and European Commission published this joint statement on the Single Euro Payment AREA (SEPA).
Essentially they applaud the work of the European Payments Council on SEPA but then go on to raise a warnnig finger:
The delivery of SEPA instruments is only the first step, since the introduction of the instruments as a mere cross-border payment solution would not result in a genuinely integrated market at the level of the Euro area. In particular, a critical mass of national credit transfers, direct debits and card payments should have migrated to SEPA payment instruments by the end of 2010.
Furthermore we read:
The Commission and the ECB support to the greatest possible extent continued self-regulation by the industry, but given the importance and the size of the social and economic benefits of SEPA, the Commission expressly reserves the right to introduce or propose necessary legislation to achieve it.
With the term critical mass the joint statement refers to a term that has been first used by the European Payments Council itself, in their April 05 press-statement:
We are also convinced that a critical mass of transactions will naturally migrate to these payment instruments by 2010 such that SEPA will be irreversible through the operation of market forces and network effects.
So the most critical discussion in the next years is about the understanding of the term: critical mass. Is it 2 %, 20 %, 80 %? Should this be calculated on a domestic level (at least 15 % in all euro countries) or is it already critical if some countries have irreversibly moved to epc-payments while others take their time (but are bound to follow, due to network effects....)?
And last but not least: does this topic have sufficient critical mass to interest the public whatsoever? Despite all the policy bla-bla most customers don't have a serious issue with their cross-border EU-payments. At least not since regulation 2560. So what's all this SEPA-fuss about anyway.
Essentially they applaud the work of the European Payments Council on SEPA but then go on to raise a warnnig finger:
The delivery of SEPA instruments is only the first step, since the introduction of the instruments as a mere cross-border payment solution would not result in a genuinely integrated market at the level of the Euro area. In particular, a critical mass of national credit transfers, direct debits and card payments should have migrated to SEPA payment instruments by the end of 2010.
Furthermore we read:
The Commission and the ECB support to the greatest possible extent continued self-regulation by the industry, but given the importance and the size of the social and economic benefits of SEPA, the Commission expressly reserves the right to introduce or propose necessary legislation to achieve it.
With the term critical mass the joint statement refers to a term that has been first used by the European Payments Council itself, in their April 05 press-statement:
We are also convinced that a critical mass of transactions will naturally migrate to these payment instruments by 2010 such that SEPA will be irreversible through the operation of market forces and network effects.
So the most critical discussion in the next years is about the understanding of the term: critical mass. Is it 2 %, 20 %, 80 %? Should this be calculated on a domestic level (at least 15 % in all euro countries) or is it already critical if some countries have irreversibly moved to epc-payments while others take their time (but are bound to follow, due to network effects....)?
And last but not least: does this topic have sufficient critical mass to interest the public whatsoever? Despite all the policy bla-bla most customers don't have a serious issue with their cross-border EU-payments. At least not since regulation 2560. So what's all this SEPA-fuss about anyway.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Virtual money earned can be redeemed in real-life
Automatiseringsgids reports that on-line game-company Mindark introduces a real payment card that can be used to withdraw money which was earned in a multiplayer online role playing game. So far, there are only reports of the opposite; people making money by selling their virtual goodies via e-bay. The payment card is a more direct way of redeeming.
The consequence being ofcourse that phishing and fraud will now also focus on stealing the virtual goods in the game.... making it even more realistic.
The consequence being ofcourse that phishing and fraud will now also focus on stealing the virtual goods in the game.... making it even more realistic.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Postbank increases security for voice response services over the phone
Postbank has moved its voice-response banking platform (Girofoon) to a new provider. And is also shifting to the use of a premium rate service number (0900) for this service.
The interesting thing is that the first time I used the new number of the Girofoon and identified myself, the Postbank informed me that my self-chosen authentication code (which was five zeroes: 00000) is a weak code. Which is not a problem for me given that I have explicitly blocked the transaction functionality of the Girofoon.
The automated system then informed me I had to choose a new code, after proving my identity by providing:
- first digits of my debit-card number
- expiry date of debit-card
- birth date
Which I did, so the only question for all you criminals out there is: which is the next new easy-to-remember-code that I chose... ;-)
The interesting thing is that the first time I used the new number of the Girofoon and identified myself, the Postbank informed me that my self-chosen authentication code (which was five zeroes: 00000) is a weak code. Which is not a problem for me given that I have explicitly blocked the transaction functionality of the Girofoon.
The automated system then informed me I had to choose a new code, after proving my identity by providing:
- first digits of my debit-card number
- expiry date of debit-card
- birth date
Which I did, so the only question for all you criminals out there is: which is the next new easy-to-remember-code that I chose... ;-)
Postbank reports fraud to police
Emerce informs us that Postbank has reported their most recent phishing fraud (April 28) to the police for further investigation.
Whereas in the 'old' banking world, this stuff was usually dealt with by security departments of banks themselves, the 'new' internet world makes this almost impossible. Attacks come from all over the place and a single bank cannot effectively counter-attacks or prevent this. Hence the step to report the crime with the peoples best friend: the police.
Whereas in the 'old' banking world, this stuff was usually dealt with by security departments of banks themselves, the 'new' internet world makes this almost impossible. Attacks come from all over the place and a single bank cannot effectively counter-attacks or prevent this. Hence the step to report the crime with the peoples best friend: the police.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Transport for Oyster drops expansion plans
FT.com reports that Transport for London has abandoned initial expansion plans for its pre-pay Oyster card after failing to agree terms with a financial partner:
The transport agency had hoped to roll out a service this year that would have enabled passengers to use their Oyster cards - currently used on the London Underground, buses, and some trains - to buy low-value goods such as newspapers, coffee and sandwiches with "electronic money" that would be loaded on to the card in advance.
Apparently it's not the question if the consumer would like the product. The real dealbreaker exists on the merchant side. The price positioning of the product between credit-card and cash is the real problem. Once again an indication that regulators should not conveniently overlook the pricing of cash as the most important public policy item for the coming years.
So much for al the nonsense EU-reports of techie-stuff or lack of demand or lack of competition that stiffles innovation in payments. If politicans are unwilling to stop the sponsoring of cash, they should not complain about low innovation in payments. It's not so easy to compete against a mispriced competitive product.
The transport agency had hoped to roll out a service this year that would have enabled passengers to use their Oyster cards - currently used on the London Underground, buses, and some trains - to buy low-value goods such as newspapers, coffee and sandwiches with "electronic money" that would be loaded on to the card in advance.
Apparently it's not the question if the consumer would like the product. The real dealbreaker exists on the merchant side. The price positioning of the product between credit-card and cash is the real problem. Once again an indication that regulators should not conveniently overlook the pricing of cash as the most important public policy item for the coming years.
So much for al the nonsense EU-reports of techie-stuff or lack of demand or lack of competition that stiffles innovation in payments. If politicans are unwilling to stop the sponsoring of cash, they should not complain about low innovation in payments. It's not so easy to compete against a mispriced competitive product.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Highlights in Payment and Settlement news 37
P+S News nr 37 is out now with as highlights:
- value of debit-card spending in the UK bigger than value of cash spending,
- table of contents of special issue Network Economics on payments,
- Paypal launches eBay creditcard,
- Cap Gemini report on World Banking.
- value of debit-card spending in the UK bigger than value of cash spending,
- table of contents of special issue Network Economics on payments,
- Paypal launches eBay creditcard,
- Cap Gemini report on World Banking.
Landmark speech by Swedish Governor of the Central bank on cash
At the BIS website I noted this speech given by Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, to the first meeting of the so-called cash management advisory board in Stockholm (26 April 2006). This board will meet twice a year to discuss cash-management issues in Sweden and its members are: banks, cash-in-transit companies, representatives of the retail trade, trade unions and authorities such as Finansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority), the police and the Swedish Work Environment Agency.
As a sort of kick-off for further discussion in Sweden, the Governor describes the situation in Nordic countries with respect to usage of cash and preferred pricing policy:
I think that we should ask the question of why Sweden has so many more cash transport robberies than other countries, not just other Nordic countries, but the majority of European countries. There have occasionally been suggestions put forward in the general debate that if one tried to reduce the use of cash in society, the number of transports to ATMs could be reduced. Given this, it is interesting to reflect on why we Swedes prefer to pay by cash rather than by card more often than our Nordic neighbours. The number of card transactions per inhabitant in 2003 was around 130 in Norway, just over 100 in Finland and Denmark and just over 80 in Sweden. There is no clear explanation for this, but one clue may lie in pricing. In Sweden, cash withdrawals from all ATMs are free of charge, despite the large costs entailed in cash handling. In the other Nordic countries, cash withdrawals are only free of charge from the customer’s own bank’s ATMs, which has led to a reduction in the use of cash.
Well, it's nice to find out that there are still central bankers that dare to include cost of criminality into the calculations of (social) cost of cash. And that they are not afraid to draw the appropriate (cost-based pricing) conclusions.
As a sort of kick-off for further discussion in Sweden, the Governor describes the situation in Nordic countries with respect to usage of cash and preferred pricing policy:
I think that we should ask the question of why Sweden has so many more cash transport robberies than other countries, not just other Nordic countries, but the majority of European countries. There have occasionally been suggestions put forward in the general debate that if one tried to reduce the use of cash in society, the number of transports to ATMs could be reduced. Given this, it is interesting to reflect on why we Swedes prefer to pay by cash rather than by card more often than our Nordic neighbours. The number of card transactions per inhabitant in 2003 was around 130 in Norway, just over 100 in Finland and Denmark and just over 80 in Sweden. There is no clear explanation for this, but one clue may lie in pricing. In Sweden, cash withdrawals from all ATMs are free of charge, despite the large costs entailed in cash handling. In the other Nordic countries, cash withdrawals are only free of charge from the customer’s own bank’s ATMs, which has led to a reduction in the use of cash.
Well, it's nice to find out that there are still central bankers that dare to include cost of criminality into the calculations of (social) cost of cash. And that they are not afraid to draw the appropriate (cost-based pricing) conclusions.
ECb to publish opinion on EU Payment Systems Directive (title 2 to be taken out)
TMCnet publishes a Dow Jones report explaining that the ECB will soon publish their opinion on the EU payment service directive (PSD). The ECB thinks that the PSD requires some amendments to avoid "diverging interpretations."
Despite numerous claims of both ECB and EU Commission that they are well aligned on all payment issues, it seems that there is a difference of opnion.
The ECB will soon urge the E.U. to make "explicitly clear that payment institutions may not use customers' funds during the limited time period that the funds are being transferred from the payer to the payee."
In addition, the ECB finds that the proposed directive is insufficiently clear as to
(i) what kind of activities payment institutions are allowed to perform and
(ii) whether they are allowed to hold balances with similar economic characteristics to deposits or e-money and grant credit financed by money received from the public.
The ECB also said that if the introduction of the directive were delayed, this could endanger the Single Euro Payment Area, which is planned for completion by 2010. So, rather than wait for the outcome of any prolonged negotiations, the E.U. should consider splitting the directive, "giving priority to adopting the parts necessary for a successful implementation of the SEPA".
Despite numerous claims of both ECB and EU Commission that they are well aligned on all payment issues, it seems that there is a difference of opnion.
The ECB will soon urge the E.U. to make "explicitly clear that payment institutions may not use customers' funds during the limited time period that the funds are being transferred from the payer to the payee."
In addition, the ECB finds that the proposed directive is insufficiently clear as to
(i) what kind of activities payment institutions are allowed to perform and
(ii) whether they are allowed to hold balances with similar economic characteristics to deposits or e-money and grant credit financed by money received from the public.
The ECB also said that if the introduction of the directive were delayed, this could endanger the Single Euro Payment Area, which is planned for completion by 2010. So, rather than wait for the outcome of any prolonged negotiations, the E.U. should consider splitting the directive, "giving priority to adopting the parts necessary for a successful implementation of the SEPA".
Interpay annual report and lay-off announcement
Last week Dutch ACH/processor Interpay published its annual report. At the same time the Financieele Dagblad picked up on the news that Interpay needs to lay off 150 workers in the area of credit-card processing.
European reality now has Dutch banks seeking different processors than Interpay. So the irreversible steps towards the real open processor market in cards is now a fact for the Netherlands.
Other countries may follow, but not so quickly. So one again we can see that the Dutch show themselves to be the nerd of the class-room; always having the homework done as the first (....but last in line when it comes to picking the girls for the prom).
European reality now has Dutch banks seeking different processors than Interpay. So the irreversible steps towards the real open processor market in cards is now a fact for the Netherlands.
Other countries may follow, but not so quickly. So one again we can see that the Dutch show themselves to be the nerd of the class-room; always having the homework done as the first (....but last in line when it comes to picking the girls for the prom).
Friday, April 28, 2006
RBA Payments System Reforms for debit-carsds
RBA finishes its reforms in the cards market with the following measures:
- the adoption of a cap and floor on interchange fees in the EFTPOS system, with the result that these fees, which are paid by financial institutions that issue EFTPOS cards, are likely to fall to around 4 to 5 cents per transaction, from an average of around 20 cents currently;
- the adoption of a cap on the weighted-average interchange fee in the Visa Debit system, with the result that interchange fees in the Visa Debit system, which are paid to financial institutions that issue Visa Debit cards, are likely to fall to an average of around 15 cents per transaction, from around 40 cents currently;
- requiring the Visa system to remove the restrictions on merchants that require them to accept Visa Debit cards if they accept Visa credit cards, and that prohibit merchants from imposing a surcharge on Visa Debit transactions; and
- the adoption of a cap on the price that existing participants in the EFTPOS system can charge new and existing participants for establishing a connection.
And later in May, we will find out what parliament in Australia thinks about it. See also this link to the home page of the Australian parliament enquiry.
- the adoption of a cap and floor on interchange fees in the EFTPOS system, with the result that these fees, which are paid by financial institutions that issue EFTPOS cards, are likely to fall to around 4 to 5 cents per transaction, from an average of around 20 cents currently;
- the adoption of a cap on the weighted-average interchange fee in the Visa Debit system, with the result that interchange fees in the Visa Debit system, which are paid to financial institutions that issue Visa Debit cards, are likely to fall to an average of around 15 cents per transaction, from around 40 cents currently;
- requiring the Visa system to remove the restrictions on merchants that require them to accept Visa Debit cards if they accept Visa credit cards, and that prohibit merchants from imposing a surcharge on Visa Debit transactions; and
- the adoption of a cap on the price that existing participants in the EFTPOS system can charge new and existing participants for establishing a connection.
And later in May, we will find out what parliament in Australia thinks about it. See also this link to the home page of the Australian parliament enquiry.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Paypal seeking alliance with Microsoft and Yahoo to counter Google-pay?
The Automatiseringsgids mentions that the Wall Street Journal discussed a possible alliance between E-bay/Paypal and Microsoft and Yahoo as to ensure that Google's ambitions don't go to Google's head. Or at least not to the detriment of e-bay's business. Apparently E-bay may consider moving part of its ad-business from Google to Yahoo/Microsoft.
Nine SEPA Essentials after conference on April 4-5
See this report by Innopay, outlining the results of a 2-day conference on ‘Payment innovation beyond SEPA’ (see also this previous post on the statement of the central bank at the conference).
The 9 SEPA essentials are:
1. Planning is on track
2. Evolution or revolution of infrastructures
3. The future of local card schemes
4. Public sector as a partner
5. Communication not only by banks
6. Regulation might not work
7. Legal Framework must stabilise
8. 'War on cash' will intensify
9. Next wave is e-SEPA.
The 9 SEPA essentials are:
1. Planning is on track
2. Evolution or revolution of infrastructures
3. The future of local card schemes
4. Public sector as a partner
5. Communication not only by banks
6. Regulation might not work
7. Legal Framework must stabilise
8. 'War on cash' will intensify
9. Next wave is e-SEPA.
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.
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.
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