RILA Reacts to Passage of Swipe Fees Reform Amendment

ARLINGTON, Va., May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) reacted to the Senate passage of an amendment aimed at reforming the excessive swipe fees charged by big banks and credit card companies with a statement from Katherine Lugar, executive vice president for government affairs.

The amendment (S. Amdt 3989) was offered by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Passed 64 to 33.  This commonsense amendment to the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 will stop credit card networks from imposing anti-competitive restrictions on retailers and ensure that fees charged for debit transactions are reasonable and proportional to the costs incurred in processing the transaction.

More than 80 percent of all swipe fees are collected by the 10 largest banks. The amendment only affects banks with $10 billion or more in assets, thus exempting more than 99 percent of community banks and credit unions, which together collect merely a fraction of the total swipe fees collected annually.

"This is a great victory for consumers and retailers. With this vote today, the U.S. Senate has stood up to defend consumers and retailers, protecting them from the excessive fees and anti-competitive practices imposed by big banks and credit card companies.

"We commend Senator Durbin for standing up to the big banks and credit card companies and fighting to pass these commonsense reforms.

"As we move ahead to conference, we will be reminding lawmakers that failure to address this swipe fee reform as part of financial regulatory reform will give the credit card industry a green light to continue raising these rates, harming merchants, charities and all other organizations that accept plastic. We look forward to working with Senator Durbin and countless other bipartisan supporters as the bill moves to conference."  

RILA is the trade association of the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

SOURCE Retail Industry Leaders Association