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Click on individual bank names in the table below to access American Banker's coverage of each company's earnings report. Links to relevant coverage, filings, and releases can be found in the Related Links area of each article.
January 28
The head of TCF Financial Corp., which sued the Federal Reserve Board in October to challenge its debit card interchange fee caps, said growing opposition to the proposal may help his case.
"Key people in Congress are now saying this is … bad law and I think the chances that there will be some form of legislative action associated with this, either delaying it while it is studied or repealing it in its totality … is more likely than it was in the past," TCF Chairman and Chief Executive William Cooper said during a conference call Thursday on the Wayzata, Minn., company's fourth-quarter results.
"The Congress people who supported this thing, they were looking at helping the guy in … the local gas station, but over 80% of this savings is going to go to 1% of retailers," Cooper said. "I mean, this is charging Joe Lunchbucket trying to get by in his life to use his card and make Wal-Mart $1 billion more a year. And that is not a popular thing in Congress."
Though he didn't name names, Cooper expects other banks to file supporting briefs, which should help give the lawsuit gravitas, he said.
"It is now very likely that others — other banking groups or individual banks — will be joining us … in that suit," he said.
TCF's lawsuit claims that the so-called Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act is unconstitutional because it would force some banks to offer debit interchange below cost and would unfairly exempt smaller banks from the new rules.
In December the Fed proposed to cap debit interchange fees at 12 cents per transaction. The final rule is due April 21 and is slated to take effect in July.
One analyst on the earnings call pointed out that the interchange cap seems to be in line with rates in Europe and Australia.
Cooper shot back: "Well, in Europe and in Australia they do not have … [our] constitution. We do. Under the laws of those places they can do this kind of thing. They can pass a law and take your property. In America, they can't."
There will be a hearing in April on the suit, which was filed in federal court in South Dakota. Cooper said he expects an appeal no matter who wins.
