Supply- and Demand-Side Developments Influencing Growth in the Debit Market

On August 3, 2006, the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a workshop led by Ronald Congemi, senior vice president of strategic industry relations for First Data Corporation, to examine developments on both the supply side and demand side that are influencing growth in the debit card market. On the supply side, Congemi addressed banks’ increasing recognition of the importance of payments-related revenues in their institutional profit and loss statements, the effect of differences in interchange fees between PIN and signature debit, and the greater focus on cost structures for debit card issuers. On the demand side, he considered how changes in consumer payment preferences and innovations in the debit market were influencing consumer behavior and payment choice and, ultimately, competition among payment alternatives.