Interbank fees (IFs) are per-transaction charges paid by banks for payment transactions where the bank that provides the payment infrastructure (the acquiring bank) is not the bank that holds the customer’s bank account (the issuer bank). Interchange fees are charged for diverse transactions such as some operations in bank branches, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and Points of Sale (POS) transactions, and direct debits. Some banks pass these fees on to their customers. The interbank fees for card payment systems are also known as interchange fees.

IFs for checks

All checks posted at banks other than the bank holding the credited account must be presented to and exchanged with the account holding bank (the issuer bank) through an automated clearing house. The bank where the check was posted (the drawer bank) must collect the check’s information, then generate and transfer the corresponding images and files to the clearing house, and store these documents. The issuer bank receives the image and electronic record files from the cashed check.

In this scheme, the drawer bank charges a 6 pesos IF to the issuer bank.

IFs for direct debits

In this scheme, the issuer bank generates and presents the payment order to the recipient bank through the clearing house. The recipient bank then charges its customer’s deposit account, according to the instructions received from the clearing house.

Since October 2007 the recipient bank charges an IF to the issuer bank:

Since January 2008 the amount of the interbank instruction must not exceed MX$50,000.

IFs at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)

The bank which owns the ATM pays an IF to the bank that issued the debit or credit card in order to cover the authorization processing costs. This IF is shifted/passed on to the cardholder as part of the fee that the issuer bank charges the customer for using ATMs from other banks.

IFs in Points of Sale (POS) transactions

An IF is charged for every transaction with a credit or debit card performed at a POS where the owner (acquiring bank) is different from the bank that issued the card (issuer bank). These IFs can be either ad-valorem, based on the transaction value, or fixed per transaction, and are paid to the issuer by the acquirer.

In transactions with debit cards, the IF can be up to 1.15% of the total amount of the payment but this charge cannot exceed of 13.50 pesos.

The acquirer bank usually recovers the IF expense by charging a merchant service fee on a per-transaction basis to the merchant establishment. The merchant service fee is often higher than the IF. The acquiring bank keeps the difference between the two fees.

Banco de México publishes the IFs and maximum merchant service fees charged by banks for payments with credit and debit cards.