On the web:

• Connect your loyalty programs, offers and more to Google Wallet with the Wallet Objects API - "Save anything to Google Wallet: Integrate your loyalty programs, offers and more into Google Wallet. Users can save these items directly to their Google Wallet for easy use."
• Fast and easy checkout for Android apps selling physical goods and services - Google Commerce - "...our new Google Wallet Instant Buy Android API … makes buying in native Android apps fast and easy."
• Google Is Rebooting Its Troubled Digital Wallet On The Web - ReadWrite - "Google has long aimed to become a payments player. It knows that many of its searches drive people to e-commerce sites where they conduct transactions. …"
• The Feds Are Cracking Down On Mt. Gox (Not On Bitcoin) - Forbes.com - "…the Department of Homeland Security has some issues with how Mt. Gox is running its American operations."
• Give me that old bitcoin religion - PandoDaily - "To engender this trust, and tamp down the threat of counterfeiting, it relies on an ingenious combination of transparency and anonymity."
• Surprise! Prepaid debit cards actually a good deal for consumers Red Tape Chronicles - "Prepaid debit cards, long synonymous with frustrating or even exploitative fees, are suddenly a pretty good deal."
• Mobile Payments Startup ZooZ Debuts In-Ad Payments (Yes, “Ad” Not “App”) - TechCrunch - "With in-ad payments, mobile users will be able checkout by tapping once on a visible banner ad within a mobile app…"
• Visa concessions on card fees: a step in the right direction - EuroCommerce - "EuroCommerce will continue to campaign for a regulation which removes excessive interchange fees, not only cross-border but also on all domestic markets."
• Payleven and MICROS spawn a cloud-based point-of-sale system with Chip & PIN support - The Next Web - "The cloud-based POS system works via 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi and comes with integrated Chip & PIN card payments functionality, as well as automatic sales and card history transactions reconciliation."
• UK's Faster Payments is five years old - Financial Services Club Blog - "The UK's Faster Payments Service (FPS) celebrated its fifth birthday on 8th May."
• Google Wallet’s high turnover - Mobile World Live - "Google has been losing its payments executives at a surprising rate since its launch in the autumn of 2011."

On the wires:

• Federal Court Reinstates $203 Million Judgment Against Wells Fargo For Misleading Consumers On Posting Of Debit-Card Purchases That Resulted In Unexpected Overdraft Fees - "The case before Judge Alsup was brought on behalf of California Wells Fargo customers who, from November 15, 2004 to June 30, 2008, incurred overdraft fees on debit card transactions as a result of the bank's practice of sequencing transactions from highest to lowest."
• Visa Cuts Europe’s Swipe Fees But Continues to Stiff U.S. Merchants & Consumers - Merchants Payments Coalition - "U.S. merchants and consumers pay the highest fees in the world to credit card companies and banks to swipe their cards because of unfair price-fixing within the industry."
• Monitise Launches MPOS Payment Service - "The new white-labelled mobile payment service helps banks, mobile operators and acquirers offer their business customers the ability to accept card payments on a mobile device..."
• CHARGE Anywhere Launches EMV MPOS Solution at BlackBerry Live - "In integrating a Bluetooth enabled EMV/Chip & PIN smart card reader with a BlackBerry smart phone, CHARGE Anywhere, continues to lead the way in providing secure, innovative payment solutions"
• Vantiv and NCR to Bring Powerful Mobile Point-of-Sale Solutions to Small Businesses - "The multi-year agreement will focus on developing exclusive new solutions and expanding both companies’ innovative technology platforms to deliver personalized customer experiences that help smaller merchants compete more effectively against larger competitors."
• Tyfone Connected Smart Card Solution Fixes Cyber Security and Biometric Vulnerabilities - "Tyfone’s CSC solution operates much like the traditional plastic smart card systems already in widespread use, but has a much smaller physical footprint and uniquely has the ability to connect to any mobile device, tablet or PC."
• New C-SAM Applet Development and Testing Services Enable Rapid Rollouts of NFC-Enabled Mobile Commerce Products and Services
• APWG Report: Mobile Device Crimeware Evolves into Global Criminal Marketplace in Response to Mobile Payment and Banking Expansion - "The sprawling mobile devices marketplace has spawned an industrialized mobile financial fraud plexus that today drives increasingly sophisticated criminal technical innovation to exploit the mobile devices explosion"

On Twitter:

For bitcoin to make it it needs to be banned by a few governments and critiqued by policy makers. Otherwise it will fade. #Antifragile.

— Nassim N. Taleb (@nntaleb) May 15, 2013

5 reasons the financial industry is ripe for disruption smrt.io/10N3isR > drawn from @coreemc @cfsinnovation report on #underbanked

— Arjan Schutte (@arjanschutte) May 15, 2013

On the web:

• What to watch as the bitcoin drama develops - PandoDaily - "If the promises of bitcoin could ever be unlocked – perhaps one of the biggest ifs in the tech world today – it’s about as big of a venture-style opportunity as you could imagine."
• Dept. of Homeland Security freezes accounts between Dwolla and bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox - PandoDaily - "…the Department of Homeland Security served the Dwolla mobile payment service with a court order requiring it to immediately cease all account activities with the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange."
• Square And PayPal Push The iPad-ification Of America's Small Businesses - ReadWrite - "Square, PayPal, and Groupon all made news today with the common goal of getting small businesses to junk their cash registers for Internet-connected devices…"
• Google Ventures invests in OpenCoin, the firm behind Bitcoin exchange Ripple - GigaOm
• Why Prepaid Cards Appeal to Hackers - Bank Technology News - "…overall, prepaid cards are as safe as any other payment instrument available to consumers..."
• Visa Europe Offers to Cap Credit-Card Fees to End EU Probe - Bloomberg - "…this will allow cheaper use of cards that are a payment system used in almost half of our total payments in the EU…"
• Compass Plus survey reveals industry expectations for contactless are overambitious - Bob's Guide - "Actively tracking the difference in opinion between industry experts and the general public has been an interesting experiment..."
• Lightspeed is anchoring a Bitcoin focused fund - Lightspeed Venture Partners - "It’s no secret that that I see the opportunity for Bitcoin to disrupt multi-billion-dollar markets and dramatically cut transaction costs for people around the world."
• Liberty City Ventures Launches $15 Million Fund To Invest In Bitcoin And Other Digital Currency Startups - TechCrunch - "It seems like everyone is talking about Bitcoin these days."
• Consumers, payments and unknown knowns - Tomorrow's Transactions Blog - "It’s hard in fact for non-industry ‘civilians’ to know what they want from a technology they barely understand. Furthermore, payments is boring – consumers don’t want to think about it."

On the wires:

• Vantiv to Bring Next Generation Point-of-Sale Redemption Technology to the U.S. Market with Visa Offers Platform - "Vantiv is the first U.S. acquirer to announce their intent to offer this technology to clients across the country..."
• TapBase Introduces NFC-Less Proximity Payments - "We’re very pleased to offer merchants and consumers the ability to perform proximity or ‘contactless’ transactions with their iPads and iPhones…"
• Square reinvents the register with Square Stand - "Square Stand gives merchants a remarkable new way to manage and grow their business, all for the price of a cash register."
• Leaf Unveils Second Generation of its Built-for-Business Tablet - "Leaf is on a mission to turn standard point of sale into point of smart interactions for small businesses…"
• FIS Study Shows Significant Revenue Opportunity for Large and Mid-tier Financial Institutions from Real-time Payments Offerings - "Offering real-time payments can help consumers better manage their financial lives, offer a differentiated banking experience and provide additional revenue streams for financial institutions..." - Report available here
• eftpos Announces Contract to Enable Mobile Payment Trials - "eftpos today announced it would begin mobile payments trials with selected Australian retailers in the next few months."
• Boku Partners with Swisscom to Offer Mobile Payments - "This agreement will bring direct-to-bill mobile operator billing as a payment option to more than 6 million customers, covering more than 60% of Switzerland’s mobile market."

The Payments System Research Department at the Kansas City Fed has published two documents:

On the web:

• Possible Fed Successor Has Admirers and Foes - NY Times - A look at Janet L. Yellen, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, by Binyamin Appelbaum.
• Federal Judge Threatens to Hold Merchant Trade Groups in Contempt Over Swipe-Fee Websites - WSJ - Judge John Gleeson is irritated about the website: http://merchantsobject.com/
• The Future of Mobile Payments: How to Make Sure You’re Ready
• PW Interview: Amber Feng, Stripe API, The Payment Web - Programmable Web - "Before Stripe, online payments mainly consisted of decades-old banking infrastructure grafted onto the web, resulting in an exceedingly complex process for businesses and a cumbersome experience for their customers..."
• Tesco: NFC payments are too complex and offer too few benefits - NFC World - "NFC was revolutionary 10 years ago but I think it just might have passed its sell-by date…"
• The Redesigned US$100 Note - coming October 8, 2013
• NACHA Positions the ACH Network To Be a P2P Payments Player - Digital Transactions - "...NACHA last August submitted an ACH P2P payments proposal for for comment last August and gave it final approval March 7."
• NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Highlights from Day One and NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Day Two Highlights - GXS' All About B2B Blog - Patty Hines
• 2013 Advanced Payments Report - Edgar Dunn - "The Advanced Payments Report 2013 … is based on a review of the global payments landscape, surveys of payments industry stakeholder opinion…"
• Total System Services Management Discusses Q1 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - "…on the issuing side of our business, we kicked off what I would describe as our most significant business and technology initiative since, really, the launch of TS2."
• American Express streamlines expense tracking via mobile app - Mobile Commerce Daily - "The ReceiptMatch program is being rolled out for American Express Open business card users…"
• Prepaid Popularity on the Rise - The Members Group Blog - "The American Bankers Association study also found that more than 50 percent of U.S. FIs currently offer, or plan to offer, prepaid or reloadable debit cards."
• Visa Survey: Prom Spending Surges 33% Nationwide - "Prom season spending is spiraling out of control as teens continuously try to one-up each other…"

On the wires:

• Tabbedout Launches Powerful Merchant Marketing Tool 'Periscope' - "Periscope gives merchants the ability to monitor customer use of Tabbedout, review their customer's purchase history, collect and respond to guest reviews and create mobile marketing campaigns…"
• CPI Card Group Expands EMV Card Manufacturing Capabilities to Support EMV Migration in the U.S. - "The migration to EMV in the U.S. is unprecedented in terms of size and scale."
• Consult Hyperion joins Open Identity Exchange - "OIX is a non-profit trade organization driving the adoption of new and existing online identity products and services through the development of trust frameworks and listing services."
• FactorTrust Launches Underbanked Index - "Every three months, the Underbanked Index will provide a range of data points including demographic, loan behavior, seasonal effects and others, to help shed light on underbanked consumers."
• Too Busy to Save Money: Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business Examines Why Consumers Pass Up Store Discounts - "Seiler's look at individuals' purchases over time likewise suggests they're trying to minimize search costs."
• PULSE and fisoc Announce Agreement to Provide Buzz Points Rewards Program to Financial Institutions - “In this digital age, our solution enables PULSE to offer its financial institution participants a fully turn-key rewards program. This will provide a distinct advantage to PULSE in the highly competitive debit industry.” (See: Buzz Points)
• NCR Introduces Anti-Skimming Technology to Help Banks Increase Consumer Trust and Reduce Costs - “There were approximately 20,000 skimming incidents in the United States last year. The average cost per incident approached $50,000 and skimming costs across a U.S. bank’s entire ATM network is equivalent to about $2,500 per ATM each year."

Judge John Gleeson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has granted preliminary approval in the U.S. merchant litigation. Reuters has a nice write up of the hearing:

During a packed hearing on Friday, lawyers for dozens of objectors -- including Target Corp and Home Depot Inc -- told the judge that the settlement offered meaningless relief for merchants saddled with an estimated $30 billion in annual swipe fees. They also argued that releases shielding Visa and Mastercard from new litigation over the same claims would violate their legal rights and give the two companies protection from for any future anti-competitive behavior.

The National Retail Federation said that is will continue to oppose the settlement and look at other legal options.

In other legal news, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to AmEx's bid to force merchants to arbitrate antitrust claims over it fees.

Visa and MasterCard have announced that they, and several major US issuers, have reached a $7.25 billion class-action settlement with US merchants. Visa's statement is here; MasterCard's statement is here. Specific terms of the agreement include:

• Distribution to class merchants of an amount equal to 10 basis points of default interchange across all credit rate categories for a period of eight consecutive months, which otherwise would have been paid to issuers and which effectively reduces credit interchange for that period of time.

• Modifications to card company rules to permit retailers to impose a surcharge on credit transactions subject to a cap and a level playing field with other general purpose card competitors. The rule changes on surcharging likely would be implemented in early 2013.

• Agreement that card companies will meet with merchant buying groups that seek to negotiate interchange rates collectively (e.g., independent drug stores).

The card-issuing banks participating in the settlement include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Capital One among others.

National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), one of the class plaintiffs in the lawsuit, announced that they have rejected the proposed settlement.

Reuters is reporting that "Mastercard lost a challenge to an EU ban on its cross-border card fees in a ruling that puts rival Visa Europe squarely in the sights of European regulators over its charges." MasterCard has issued a statement to the effect that the court's decision will "ultimately make payments more expensive for consumers".

Over on Payments Views, Glenbrook's Scott Loftesness takes a look back at payments in 2011.

At Glenbrook, we thrive on thinking about how payments are evolving and how these changes will affect us in the years ahead. In this look back at the important payments themes of 2011, we share a summary of some of our best thinking over the course of 2011 from our PaymentsViews.com web site.

On the wires:

• Bernanke: Unable To Issue Debit Card Fee Rules By April 21
• Citi ThankYou Rewards Gives Members New Ways to Enjoy Their Points
• Ten New Retail Brands Join the Popular eBillme Gift Card Mall
• Ceridian SVS Partners with Spanish Supermarket Giant for Gift Card Program
• Utiba Americas Wins Mobile Wallet Project From Central Bank of Ecuador
• Leading Financial Institution Partners with Panini and Cachet to Deliver RDC to Mac Users

On the web:

• Wall Street Journal: Canadian Banks, Visa, MasterCard To Face Potential Class Action Suit
• Credit Slips: More Bogus Lobbying Numbers from the Banks: Debit Interchange Rates
• Mobile Commerce Daily: Sonic Drive-In rolls out mobile ordering pilot program in 71 locations
• MSNBC: New $5 ATM Fee Just the Latest Checking Trap
• MyBankTracker: Chase Paymentech Offers Chase Instant Storefront For Small Businesses
• The Atlantic: What $1 Looks Like in 15 Other Currencies - Real and Virtual

The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Hearing on the "Implications and Consequences of the Durbin Amendment" was held today. The House website has a video webcast of the hearing and the written testimony of all the different stakeholders. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is also holding a hearing on the Dodd-Frank Act today.

Various outlets have different takes on how the proposed Federal Reserve rules are being received in the industry:

• Bloomberg: Banks, Retailers Renew Fight Over Debit ‘Swipe’ Fees
• USA Today: Fed Reconsiders 12-cent Cap on Debit Card Fees
• New York Times: Bernanke Says Fed Has Learned Lessons From the Recession

Over on Payments Views, our sister blog, Glenbrook's Russ Jones shares his thoughts on where POS steering may be headed this year, commenting "several of Glenbrook’s merchant clients are already developing their strategies for rewarding customers that select low cost payment methods at the point of sale."

The Electronic Funds Transfer Association (EFTA) has launched a new website to provide information on the Federal Reserve’s proposed new regulations governing debit card interchange fees. The site is designed to "provide news, opinions and analysis on those issues that are critical to understanding the changes that will result from the law including the Fed’s effort to cap debit card interchange fees."

If the proposed Debit Card rules are on your radar screen, be sure to signup for Glenbrook's March 15th webinar on 'Durbin: Second Order Impacts'.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Banca Intesa Sanpaolo to Offer Western Union Money Transfer in Italy
• txtNation adds support for Mobile Payments in the Nordics
• CreditCall Introduces Contactless Kernel to Its EMV Product Range Supporting NFC and Wave and Pay
• New Mercator Report on US Mobile P2P Payment Market: Gee Whiz or Gee Why?

• DNA India: Ensuring Security of Payment Systems a Big Challenge
• Forbes: Unhappy With Slow Growth Of Android App Purchases, Google Talks 2011 Roadmap
• Wall Street Journal: House Panel Sets Hearing on Debit Card Fees
• NFCNews: Orange, Barclaycard to Launch Contactless Mobile Payment this Summer

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Global Online Community Badoo Chooses Single-Click Online Payments System from Adyen
• Tesco Bank Partners with Blackhawk Network to Deliver Gift Cards to Tesco Customers
• Cartera Commerce Responds to Proposed Federal Reserve Rules in Interchange Fees With New Solutions for Debit Card Issuers
• NRF Says Federal Reserve Action on Debit Cards Could Lead to Discounts for Consumers
• Oberthur Technologies Announces the Development of MasterCard M/Chip Advance for its new Dual Interface Platform

• Visa Blog: Senator Dodd: Debit Interchange Proposals “Maybe one where the Fed is overreaching”
• Springwise: Donation Gift Cards let Recipients Choose the Charity
• ReadWriteCloud: Google Apps Marketplace Gets a Billing API

Over on PaymentsViews, Glenbrook's Bryan Derman has spend some time analyzing the Fed's draft debit rules and offers another Glenbrook perspective on likely first order and second order effects in the market. In a post entitled "Thinking Through Moves and Countermoves on the Durbin Chessboard" he shares his thoughts on how things might evolve.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Protraction, Complacency And Ignorance: PCI DSS Compliance In Disarray Amongst UK Contact Centres
• Think Introduces Real Cost-Per-Action (CPA) Advertising with FaceCash Coupons

• Slate Magazine: The Fed Enters the Skirmish Over Debit Card Fees
• Visa Blog: Congressional Leaders Voice Concern Regarding Federal Reserve Debit Rules
• Rethink Wireless: Orange Leads NFC Charge in Europe
• Bloomberg: Danaher Said to Offer 1.44 Billion Euros for Ingenico

Over on our sister blog, www.PaymentsViews.com, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson and Scott Loftesness react to the recent draft debit interchange rules. In a post entitled "The Durbin Rules - Quick Takes on Impact by Domains and Players", Carol shares her initial thoughts on how the new rules may impact the six core payment domains, as well as the various stakeholders in the payments ecosystem. Scott looks at the blurring of debit interchange by acceptance environment and authentication method in a post entitled "The End of Interchange - Redux?".

The U.S. Federal Reserve has released its draft proposal for debit interchange rules and is now soliciting public comment.

The Board is requesting comment on two alternative interchange fee standards that would apply to all covered issuers: one based on each issuer's costs, with a safe harbor (initially set at 7 cents per transaction) and a cap (initially set at 12 cents per transaction); and the other a stand-alone cap (initially set at 12 cents per transaction). Under both alternatives, circumvention or evasion of the interchange fee limitations would be prohibited. The Board also is requesting comment on possible frameworks for an adjustment to the interchange fees to reflect certain issuer costs associated with fraud prevention.

Comments on the draft proposal are due by February 22, 2011. The draft rule proposal also includes an interesting summary of industry feedback the Fed gathered through is outreach program.

TCF National Bank announced that today it is filing a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Durbin Amendment, which is part of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010.

“We believe these provisions violate our Constitutional rights on three separate grounds: the regulations take our property without just compensation and without Due Process of Law; and they also deny us Equal Protection under the law.”

I think there's a "sleeper" in this interchange legislation - see my post "The End of Interchange?" over on our PaymentsViews.com blog.

What do you think?

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) has announced that an agreement has been reached with conferees on the Wall Street reform bill regarding his amendment regulating interchange fees.

According to Durbin's announcement, "the agreement makes minor, clarifying changes to the language which passed the Senate 64-33, and responds to concerns raised by state governments regarding their use of prepaid and debit cards distribution of government benefits." READ MORE »

The Electronic Payments Coalition issued a press release this afternoon in response to the proposed changes to Senator Dick Durbin's debit interchange amendment:

Senator Durbin has underscored his commitment to big box retailers and their bottom lines through his so-called compromise. The fact that he has to carve anyone out to provide 'protection' from his amendment gives some indication as to the damage this amendment will cause. Consumers will pay higher fees, lose rewards programs, and have limited choices for debit cards due to the disruption this amendment will bring to the economics of the debit card market. We will continue to fight to ensure that retailers do not succeed in their decade-long lobbying campaign to shift the cost of what they pay to accept cards onto the backs of consumers."

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) has written to Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd asking that prepaid cards – including government benefits cards, general purpose prepaid cards, payroll cards – be exempt from the fee determination set by the Federal Reserve Board under pending legislation. In its letter, CFSI said that "prepaid cards and, more importantly, the underbanked consumers using these products would be substantially harmed if the products were subject to interchange fee limits. The product structure, which makes them a viable option for consumers to use and for providers to offer, distinguishes them from other debit card products." READ MORE »

In an editorial titled "Our view on financial reform: 'Swipe fees' boost your costs at the register", USA Today writes in support of congressional reform of interchange fees. They write:

Whether this violates antitrust law is in dispute. One thing that is not disputable, however, is that this system has allowed banks to, in essence, set up toll plazas on the highways of commerce."

As a counter-balance, they run an op-ed titled "Opposing view on financial reform: Fee system provides value" written by Edward L. Yingling, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, who writes:

There is still an opportunity for Congress to do the right thing for consumers, and we urge members to eliminate this harmful amendment from the financial reform bill.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said in a press release today that, "as part of its promised clampdown on irresponsible banking behaviour, the new Government should intervene to cut the excessive charges banks levy on retailers for accepting plastic. The combination of unjustifiably high card charges and growth of non-cash payment methods promises big windfalls for banks and a financial blow for shops and customers." READ MORE »

Earlier today, Senator Dick Durbin sent a letter to the CEOs of MasterCard and Visa telling them "to stop threatening small banks with interchange fee changes and to commit not to take any steps that would purposefully disadvantage small card issuers."

In a post titled "Memo to Bankers: A Customer is Someone Who Pays You" over on PaymentsViews.com, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson comments on the passage late this week of the Durbin amendment - and its implications (if the amendment survives) for retail bankers.

Carol writes:

I think the underlying problem that banks are dealing with is that too much of their retail customer revenue is hidden – that is, their customers don’t know they are paying it. It seems to me that you really don’t have a customer unless the customer is making a conscious decision to pay you. ... (click to continue reading)

In an article titled "Vote to Limit Debit Card Fees Is Surprising Loss for Banks", Binyamin Appelbaum writes about yesterday's Senate vote that passed (on a 64-33 vote_ an amendment offered by Sen. Dick Durban to limit debit card fees paid by merchants.

Visa has released the following statement on yesterday's approval of the Durbin Amendment:

We are disappointed that Senator Durbin has decided to force unrelated legislation into the financial reform package at the eleventh hour without a hearing or debate.

“Thursday’s vote is another step in a lengthy legislative process. We’re hopeful that when the issue is fully reviewed by members of Congress during the next phase of negotiations, they will conclude the amendment harms consumers, credit unions and community banks and should be eliminated from the bill.

“Visa will continue to work with policymakers to educate them about this flawed legislation that imposes price controls on debit products and allows retailers to dictate which payment card is used by consumers at the point of sale.

“Debit products deliver significant incremental value over cash and check, including guaranteed payment to merchants, greater security and increased sales, all of which the Durbin amendment ignores.

“At the direction of Congress, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has twice examined the potential impact of proposed interchange legislation, and confirmed that there is little evidence to suggest that consumers would benefit. In Australia, where price controls have been implemented, consumers have not seen a reduction in retail prices, and instead have experienced reduced consumer benefits and increased costs.

“We hope Congress sees today’s amendment for what it is – an attempt by retailers to increase their profits at the expense of consumers.”

In an article titled "Durbin wins battle to pass 'interchange fee' legislation, 64-33", Silla Brush reports for TheHill.com that Senator Dick Durbin's amendment passed on a 64-33 vote this afternoon in the Senate.

Senator Durbin issued a statement following the amendment's passage:

“Wall Street reform is really about two things: holding the big banks accountable for how they operate and empowering consumers to make good financial choices. Passage of this amendment is a win for the public on both fronts.

Passage of this measure gives small businesses and their customers a real chance in the fight against the outrageously high “swipe fees” charged by Visa and MasterCard. It will prevent the giant credit card companies from using anti-competitive practices, allow merchants to offer discounts to their customers and restore common sense and fairness to this broken system.

By requiring debit card fees to be reasonable, and by cleaning up Visa’s and MasterCard’s worst abuses, small businesses and their customers will be able to keep more of their own money. Making sure small businesses can grow and prosper is vital to putting our country back on solid economic footing.”

In a press release this evening, the National Retail Federation said it "welcomed Senate approval of an amendment to financial services reform legislation that would direct the Federal Reserve to determine “reasonable and proportional” transaction fees for debit cards."

SImilarly, the Merchants Payments Coalition said in a press release that "the measure will ensure the debit card transactions are reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing the transaction."