Regulations were enacted last July, aimed to limit the processing fees that merchants have to pay banks and networks every time a customer buys something with a debit card.  The new provisions only affect larger banks with assets of more than ten billion dollars.  Smaller banks and credit unions are exempt from the rules and may charge higher processing fees. 

Visa Inc. has suggested implementation of the rules in two tier stages, allowing large and small banks to charge different processing fees. 

In a recent comment from the president of MasterCard's U.S. Markets, Chris McWilton expressed MasterCard's unwillingness to follow Visa's lead. 

McWilton commented, "We're prepared, we're doing the back-office work to prepare for it, but we are not making a decision on actually whether to implement it."

He added, "We don't believe at the end of the day that a two-tier fee structure is sustainable in the long term."

McWilton estimates that the Federal Reserve's proposed rules to cap debit processing fees at about twelve cents per transaction will cost banks and networks almost fourteen billion dollars in revenue every year.

Although the rules are expected to be implemented by July, the debit card industry is campaigning to delay or repeal them.  

McWilton feels a delay of the rules is possible but repealing them may be a difficult challenge.  He added, "What we're hopeful for is a study, dialogue, diligence and debate on the matter, which never happened before ... I think that would be ample time."