The Regulation of Interchange Fees by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board: A Primer on Economic Principles

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”) is the latest of a series of central banks and antitrust authorities to tackle the thorny issues of interchange fees. It did not ask for the job. During the process of drafting financial reform legislation the U.S. Senate passed the “Durbin Amendment,” which required the Board to regulate the amount of interchange fees that banks that issue debit ca