Stephanie Bell

EBay's payments unit in 2010 nearly tripled its eBay Mobile gross merchandise volume to $2 billion from the previous year, driven by strong holiday shopping.

EBay Inc.'s payments unit, PayPal Inc. continued to increase its payment volume and user base in the fourth quarter, eBay reported Wednesday.

MasterCard Inc. has agreed to become the exclusive card brand for Transport for London's Oyster card wallet.

Verifi Inc., which provides risk management services for card-not-present merchants, has formed a partnership with Demandware Inc. to provide online merchants with fraud-prevention and risk management services.

Intuit Inc. said Monday that it is offering its GoPayment mobile payment service with free card readers and no monthly service fees to small merchants who sign up by mid-February.

To keep transactions safe from online fraud, issuers and card companies are working not only on up-to-date fraud-prevention systems but also on reliable customer service to help people who have problems with their transactions.

Citigroup Inc. has launched four new credit cards linked to its ThankYou rewards program.

During the just-completed holiday season, PayPal Inc. experienced a surge in consumers making purchases using its online payment service with their smartphones and other mobile devices, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based company.

As open-platform payment providers move into new markets, they should monitor their susceptibility to risks including potential market changes, a report from Aite Group advised.

Heathrow Express has come out with a free application that lets consumers purchase train tickets that can be presented directly from their mobile phones.

Several top U.S. issuers plan to issue EMV cards within the next year to certain cardholders, most likely international travelers hoping to avoid problems making purchases and ATM withdrawals outside the United States, the report from the Members Group said.

Visa Inc. has launched a mobile shopping application for Apple Inc.’s iPhone to enable holders of Visa cards to access various merchant discounts using their mobile phones, the card company reported on Dec. 14.

PayPal Inc. remains the dominating force in alternative payments and continues to grow, a survey concluded.

Cardlytics Inc. and ClairMail Inc. have announced a partnership to enable financial institutions to deliver coupons and other merchant offers to customers’ mobile phones, Atlanta-based Cardlytics reported on Dec. 7.

MasterCard Inc. has added immediate fraud scoring and compromised-account services to its existing fraud detection system for issuers.

Vivotech Inc. and Monitise PLC started a mobile payment services partnership targeting U.S. banks.

As the effects of recent financial legislation may cause some card issuers to scale back on the rewards and loyalty programs they offer to encourage card use and, inherently, shopping, the doors may be opening for third-party loyalty-program providers to align with merchants.

Affinity Solutions Inc. is working with Sovereign Bank to launch a mobile, merchant-funded rewards program for the bank's debit cardholders.

Mobile marketing, group coupons and merchant-funded rewards programs are providing new ways for merchant acquirers to help retailers increase consumer spending and traffic.

The Federal Reserve Board is expected to issue rules reducing debit card interchange rates by the end of the year under a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act.