Jeffrey Green

Dunkin' Donuts likes to brag that its coffee beats Starbucks in a national taste test. Now it aims to beat its rival in mobile payments as well.

Analytics and decision management technology provider Fair Isaac Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Adeptra Ltd., a leader in cloud-based customer engagement and risk-intervention services.

Target Corp., which earlier this year took its credit card portfolio off the market because of a lack of suitable offers, appears to be getting closer to securing a deal.

Norwegian banking group SpareBank 1 Gruppen will license Total System Services Inc.'s Prime 4 card-management system to support its issuance and issuer-processing activities under a deal the two companies announced.

Sionic Mobile, an Atlanta-based start-up that in June launched a mobile merchant-loyalty initiative in that city, is providing extra reward points to consumers to get them to use a Dwolla account for their spending.

Pundits often criticize prepaid card providers for having high monthly fees, but the real market pressure is on the fees charged for ATM access. As it turns out, prepaid card users very much want to keep using cash — but they don't want to pay to get it.

Merchant processor Global Payments expects to grow its direct presence in the health care market by agreeing to acquire Accelerated Payment Technologies.

With newcomers like Square gaining momentum in mobile payments, processors are more aggressively offering customers reasons to stick with them as merchants accept more payments outside their retail stores.

Some the nation’s leading merchants announced today the formation of the Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, a new mobile-commerce company that will support paying at the register with customizable offers.

The battle between retailers, issuers and the major card networks rages on, but behind the scenes, small electronic funds transfer networks suddenly have become more relevant in driving down payment-acceptance costs.

Consumers continue to take their credit card borrowing more seriously. The ratio of credit cardholders 90 or more days past due on their payments continues to drop even as issuers are extending credit to higher-risk customers, according to TransUnion.

Credit card asset-backed securities likely will remain stable for the foreseeable future because card charge-offs and delinquencies are at historic lows, consumer bankruptcies keep falling and consumer balance sheets are getting healthier, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

TSYS Healthcare will issue network-branded cards and process the card transactions under a deal the Total Systems Services unit reached with Acclaris.

Alliance Data will continue providing private-label credit cards to Stage Stores and will collaborate to develop and launch a simplified loyalty program under a new long-term contract with the retailer.

Mexican bank Banamex this week launched the initial phase of the first major countrywide contactless-payment rollout that includes the issuance of 100,000 PayPass contactless credit and debit MasterCards and the deployment of several thousand terminals to 1,900 merchants in Mexico City.

Mexican bank Banamex this week launched the initial phase of the first major countrywide contactless-payment rollout that includes the issuance of 100,000 contactless credit and debit MasterCards and the deployment of several thousand terminals to 1,900 merchants in Mexico City.

Transaction processor Vantiv plans to offer its new Mobile Accept card reader to help brick-and-mortar merchants handle payments outside their stores — without paying more than they do for in-store payments.

Alliance Data's Retail Services business will create and manage private-label, cobrand and commercial credit card programs for True Value under a long-term agreement the companies announced today.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will operate as the first full franchise in China to issue and acquire Diners Club cards under an agreement announced today.

Fleet card provider FleetCor Technologies reported double-digit second-quarter increases in revenue and profit, and it expects recent acquisitions to propel further growth throughout the rest of the year.