More on the Fed Interchange Working Paper - Policy Interventions

Earlier today, we posted about a new Working Paper from the Federal Reserve titled "Interchange Fees and Payment Card Networks: Economics, Industry Developments, and Policy Issues". We've quickly scanned through it - it's an impressive analysis of the issues, economics, etc. surrounding interchange fees.

The last section of the document takes a look at potential policy interventions that could be considered. These include:

• Clarifying or eliminating restrictions on differential retail pricing across payment methods
• Prohibiting network determination of interchange fees
• Regulating the level of interchange fees
• Mandating "multi-bugged" cards that can perform transactions on multiple networks with merchant control of network routing rules
• Doing nothing

If you're at all interested in the subject of interchange fees for payment cards, this working paper is a must read!