Furniture World News
By Nic Ledoux on
5/10/2021
The National Retail Federation welcomed the recent announcement by the Federal Reserve that it plans to clarify that banks must allow retailers to decide where to route online debit card transactions for processing the same as they do with in-store debit transactions.
“When Congress said routing was up to merchants, that meant wherever the purchase was made, not just in stores,” NRF Vice President for Government Relations, Banking and Financial Services Leon Buck said. “With the accelerated shift to online spending during the pandemic, this issue is more important than ever. The lack of routing ability has cost retailers billions of dollars, and that’s an added expense small businesses can’t afford as they work to recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19. NRF has raised this issue with the Fed repeatedly, and we are glad to see the Board of Governors take action. This move will help bring about the competition that is needed to bring these fees under control. Card processing costs ultimately drive up prices for consumers and cannot be allowed to continue to grow.”