The National Retail Federation (NRF) is launching a new advertising campaign designed to fight efforts by the financial services industry to roll back provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that reformed the way debit card swipe fees were assessed by Visa and Mastercard.
The swipe fee provision, known as the Durbin amendment, "shifted billions of dollars of revenue from the banks and other financial institutions to the merchants," the Wall Street Journal writes. "Banks say consumers haven’t seen cost savings, a point that retailers dispute."
Dodd-Frank has been under attack since the Trump administration took office, with expectations among the Wall Street wing of the Republican party assuming that control of both the legislative and executive branches meant that Dodd-Frank - enacted during the Obama administration - could now be dismantled. However, these interests have run up against the Main Street wing of the GOP, which objects to any change to swipe fee reforms.
The Journal writes that "until now, the group and ones representing card issuers and networks have targeted ads at Washington audiences. The retailers new ads will run in the Winston-Salem, N.C., market and will spread to other markets in the country over the next couple of weeks at a cost that will run somewhere in the mid six figures, the retail federation said ... Banks and card networks haven’t yet said if they will begin advertising nationally."
The swipe fee provision, known as the Durbin amendment, "shifted billions of dollars of revenue from the banks and other financial institutions to the merchants," the Wall Street Journal writes. "Banks say consumers haven’t seen cost savings, a point that retailers dispute."
Dodd-Frank has been under attack since the Trump administration took office, with expectations among the Wall Street wing of the Republican party assuming that control of both the legislative and executive branches meant that Dodd-Frank - enacted during the Obama administration - could now be dismantled. However, these interests have run up against the Main Street wing of the GOP, which objects to any change to swipe fee reforms.
The Journal writes that "until now, the group and ones representing card issuers and networks have targeted ads at Washington audiences. The retailers new ads will run in the Winston-Salem, N.C., market and will spread to other markets in the country over the next couple of weeks at a cost that will run somewhere in the mid six figures, the retail federation said ... Banks and card networks haven’t yet said if they will begin advertising nationally."
- KC's View:
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The banks may not spend money on advertising because they feel it would be better spent by just funneling it directly into the campaign war chests of lawmakers.
Wall Street vs. Main Street? it is going to be very interesting to see where the GOP-dominated Congress ends up on this one.
