The Durbin Amendment and First District Banks The Durbin Amendment and First District Banks

By Kaili Mauricio

This analysis investigates if the debit card interchange fee regulation section of the Durbin Amendment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank act) had an impact on debit card interchange revenue for community banks and large banks. The Durbin Amendment reduced the fees that large banks could collect on debit-card purchases, which some suggested would significantly limit bank revenue. This preliminary analysis indicates that the Durbin Amendment did not have a significant impact on interchange revenue for smaller/community banks, but among large banks interchange revenue did decline following implementation of the regulation. That said, the sample used, the lack of interchange data prior to the Durbin Amendment, and the fact that it was implemented during the recovery period after a recession make identification of the amendment’s short-term effects difficult.

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