Deadline looms for Fed to Regulate Debit Card Interchange Fees

Back in Jan I blogged about the Wall Street Reform Bill and particularly about the "Durbin Amendment" which allows the fed to regulate the fees banks charge to merchants for debit card transactions. Previous article here. Time is running out and this is a big game changer if it goes through, so I thought I would provide an update.

Over the last few weeks there has been intense lobbying by big banks to at least delay the limiting of the interchange fees and so far at least 9 senators have signed on to delay the bill for at least 2 years. The amendment is scheduled to take effect this July (with a ruling on fees April 21st) so the senators (led by Sen, John Tester) are pushing to pass the delay quickly. We are talking about $16B in fees a year so there is a lot at stake.

If the delay is passed it may very well end up eventually killing the amendment. So the $16B race is on before it takes effect. My money says they will pass the delay and put it off for another day. I think they have even bigger issues to work out like a federal budget don't they?

In the meantime, the big banks are planning to raise other fees to recover the revenue loss if needed. Stay tuned to see what happens over the next few weeks.

ING to sell US Online Banking Unit

Looks like the "We the Savers" and "Save your money" innovators are taking a huge blow. Due to problems in  Europe the Dutch giant ING has agreed to sell the ING Direct US online bank in order to receive a European bailout of 10 billion Euros (14B US). The sale will happen by 2013 and include their US insurance and investment management operations.

This has got to be a big disappointment for Arkadi Kuhlmann, the brain child and founder of ING direct. Arkadi pioneered online banking in Canada and the US subsequently, developing a savings culture for its clients. For some great insight into Arkadi and ING Direct check out the book the Orange Code. This interesting read is a lesson how to develop a corporate culture and motivate your employees. Arkadi has been well known for his outspoken view of banks and their motivations often criticizing them when speaking at their own banking events.


This is a big change for online banking and leaves a lot of open questions. Who will buy ING Direct in the US and what will they do with it? Will it end up in the hands of a BOA or JP Morgan Chase? That would be ironic.


Does this open up the way for a new online banking leader to take the lead in the online banking space or is it the end of an era? Way too soon to say since this all just happened yesterday but I do think it is a set back for online banking and one of its greatest brands and innovators.


Full article: Bloomberg Article