EPC Releases Q2 Data Dashboard Highlighting the Impact of Inflation on Interchange Regulations 

Credit Unions and Community Banks that were intended to be exempt from the Durbin Amendment’s interchange cap are now covered, due to inflation 

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) released its 2022 Q2 Data Dashboard, providing a quarterly update on various data related to the credit and debit card system, including interchange and merchant discount rates, BNPL, electronic payments, and consumer stress. This quarter’s Dashboard features the impact of record-high levels of inflation on the electronic payments ecosystem.  

Inflation has reached its highest level in 40 years. While most prices are rising, however, the cap on debit card interchange is largely unadjusted for inflation. Similarly, the set of card issuers exempt from the cap—those with less than $10 billion in assets—is growing smaller, as the $10 billion has also never been adjusted for inflation in 11 years. With inflation at its highest level in four decades, the lack of an inflation adjustment to the interchange cap and the exempt institution level continues to push these caps further from the levels regulators originally intended. 

“When setting the interchange cap, regulators exempted small banks and credit unions with assets less than $10 billion. However, this exemption has never been adjusted for inflation. Many credit unions and community banks must now adhere to the interchange cap, though they would have been exempt if the asset limit were adjusted for inflation,” said Jeff Tassey, Chairman of the Board of EPC. “Artificially capping interchange—and not adjusting the cap for inflation—reduces the funds available for smaller financial institutions to provide critical banking services like card rewards and data security for customers, as well as risk and fraud protection for merchants.”   

To view EPC’s Q2 Data Dashboard, click HERE. 

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The Electronic Payments Coalition represents the credit unions, community banks, payment card networks, and institutions who support the backbone of our economic system: electronic payments.