After Target and Home Depot Breaches, Small Lenders Object to Settlements

Wall Street Journal
Monday, April 27, 2015

Small banks and credit unions are trying to upend the industry practice in which Visa and MasterCard negotiate settlements with breached merchants and then distribute the proceeds to affected financial institutions. The smaller firms say the process favors big banks. A survey of 535 banks found that nearly three-quarters of banks with assets below $1 billion didn’t receive any reimbursement for breaches between 2009 and 2014, while all banks with assets above $50 billion were reimbursed. Yet fraud is can cost small banks more than $10 to replace a card, compared to $3 for the nation’s biggest banks. A group of small banks has filed a motion in court objecting to terms of a settlement Target reached with MasterCard and are now pursuing additional compensation.