Bernanke Pledges to Make Durbin Carve-Out Work Posted by AVCU on 5:55 PM

At an Independent Community Bankers Association meeting on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke assured everyone that the he will attempt to protect community banks (and credit unions, presumably) when the Fed finalizes its rule capping debit interchange fees. Bernanke said the Fed "is quite aware" that Congress never intended for small banks to be subject to the proposed limits. "In our rule-writing we will do everything we can and use all the powers we have to try to make sure that the carve-out is effective," he said.

As reported by American Banker, Bernanke went on to say that the Fed needs cooperation from debit card networks to ensure that a carve-out works, and that 50 Fed staffers have been working full time for about six months to collect data, analyze the market and review more than 11,000 comment letters. The Fed is expected to issue a final rule by April 21 unless efforts to overturn the Durbin amendment in Congress are successful.

Read the American Banker article.