Interchange Fee Standards: Small Issuer Exemption

August 29, 2011

Source: Federal Reserve Board

To facilitate compliance with the debit card interchange fee standards in the Board’s Regulation II, 12 CFR part 235 (which implements section 920 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act), the Board is publishing two lists of institutions using data available to the Board. These lists are intended to help payment card networks and others determine which issuers qualify for the statutory exemption from interchange fee standards. [1] The statute exempts any debit card issuer that, together with its affiliates, has assets of less than $10 billion. The lists have been generated from the set of institutions in existence on December 31, 2010, according to the available data. [2]

Institutions have been grouped into two categories: Exempt and Not Exempt. Institutions in the Exempt category have been determined to have, together with their affiliates, reported assets of less than $10 billion, and therefore are exempt from the interchange fee standards under the statute. Institutions in the Not Exempt category have been determined to have, either individually or together with their affiliates, reported assets of $10 billion or more, and therefore are not exempt from the interchange fee standards under the statute.

In addition, a small number of debit card issuers may not appear on either of these lists, such as institutions for which the Board has incomplete affiliate data, de novo institutions for which the Board did not have financial data as of December 31, 2010, and issuers without federal deposit insurance. If an issuer does not appear on either of these lists and is exempt from the interchange fee standards, it should so certify to its participating payment card networks.

If you believe that information in these lists is not accurate, you may submit a request for a correction of the information by filing a correction request using the email box provided here.

Data revised as of August 29, 2011 [3]: View Full Report

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Footnotes

1. See 12 CFR 235.5(a)(2). Return to text.

2. Institutions that were known to be closed after December 31, 2010 are excluded from the lists. Return to text.

3. Twenty-one issuers were moved from the exempt to the non-exempt list: PLATTE VALLEY ST B&TC (FRB-ID 10858); FIRST NB&TC OF COLUMBUS (FRB-ID 77758); FIRST NB (FRB-ID 181459); FREMONT NB&TC (FRB-ID 264558); ISRAEL DISCOUNT BK OF NY (FRB-ID 320119); FIRST NB SD (FRB-ID 379359); WOORI AMER BK (FRB-ID 384018); HOUGHTON ST BK (FRB-ID 528241); SHELBY CTY ST BK (FRB-ID 536349); E TRADE UNITED BK (FRB-ID 648877); FAR E NB (FRB-ID 676160); ESPIRITO SANTO BK (FRB-ID 729132); YORK ST B&TC (FRB-ID 731050); BANCO SANTANDER PR (FRB-ID 816210); CHINATRUST BK USA (FRB-ID 996260); WASHINGTON CTY BK (FRB-ID 1000052); TIAA-CREF TC FSB (FRB-ID 2716547); MASSMUTUAL TC (FRB-ID 2881445); AIG FSB (FRB-ID 2909330); NORTHWESTERN MUT WEALTH MGMT (FRB-ID 3017081) and ETRADE SAV BK (FRB-ID 3441677). Two issuers were added to the non-exempt list: CITIC BANK INTL LIMITED LA BR (FRB-ID 806864) and CITIC BK INTL NY BR (FRB-ID 3159262). Return to text.