Fed Publishes Lists of Institutions Subject to and Exempted from New Durbin-Interchange-Fee Rule

The Federal Reserve Board (Fed) released a list of financial institutions that qualify for statutory exemptions from the Fed’s recently adopted debit-interchange-fee limits.  The standards were mandated by amendments to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA) that were included in last year’s landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation and codified by the Fed last week in its new Regulation II (which we summarized here).  The amendments, introduced by Senator Durbin and found in Section 1075 of the Dodd-Frank Act, are generally known as “the Durbin Amendment.” The Durbin Amendment generally exempts small issuers, defined as institutions with reported assets of less than $10 billion.  The Fed will publish lists annually of institutions that fall above and below that $10 million threshold.  This year’s lists are available here (exempt) and here (non-exempt).  Issuers and networks can rely on these lists for compliance purposes.  The Fed notes that anyone who believes information in the released lists is inaccurate may file a correction request.  The fee limits established in Regulation II go into effect on October 1, 2011.