U.S. payment card networks processed 100.7 billion debit and general-use prepaid card transactions valued at $4.7 trillion in 2023, representing an annual 4.6% increase in both value and volume over the two years studied, the Federal Reserve said in its biennial report on interchange fee revenue.
The Dodd-Frank Act requires the Fed to regulate debit card interchange fees – which it does through Regulation II – as well as report on the costs incurred by issuers and payment card networks. The report noted that while both value and volume grew in the most recent time period studied, it was “significantly slower” than the average annual growth rates from 2009 to 2021, which were 7.8% by volume and 9.5% by value.
Interchange fees across all debit and general-use prepaid card transactions totaled $34.12 billion in 2023, representing an average increase of 3.9% per year since 2021, according to the report. For transactions covered by Reg II, the average level of interchange fees has not changed materially since the regulation took effect in 2011. The average interchange fee for covered transactions processed over single-message networks was $0.24 in 2023, while the fee for covered transactions processed over dual-message networks was $0.22.
Across all transactions for covered issuers, fraud losses to all parties as a share of the transaction value were 17.6 basis points in 2023, or $17.63 per $10,000 in transaction value, the Fed said. The value reflects a steady increase in fraud losses from 7.8 basis points in 2011.
