Judge Makes Rulings In Debit Card Interchange Lawsuit

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol today denied the government’s motion to dismiss TCF National Bank’s (“TCF”) complaint and took the motion to dismiss the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) as a proper party defendant under advisement. The judge also denied TCF’s motion for a preliminary injunction at this time. The court intends to hold a further hearing immediately following the Federal Reserve Board’s issuance of its final ruling on debit card interchange.

The judge raised concerns as to the constitutionality of the Durbin Amendment’s exemption for banks with assets less than $10 billion under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. He also commented that the government’s position that a two-tier pricing system for banks above and below $10 billion in assets will eventually result in a single rate to all banks is speculation on the government’s part.

TCF National Bank is a subsidiary of TCF Financial Corporation (NYSE: TCB), a Wayzata, Minnesota-based national bank holding company with $18.5 billion in total assets. TCF has 442 branches in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin, Indiana, Arizona and South Dakota, providing retail and commercial banking services. TCF also conducts commercial leasing and equipment finance business in all 50 states and commercial inventory finance business in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about TCF, please visit www.tcfbank.com.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints