Stephanie Bell

As more transit systems adopt advanced fare-payment systems, demand is rising significantly for smart cards that can support them, according to Frost & Sullivan International.

The mobile marketing company Mocapay Inc. said it is working with the processor eNational Payments to use location technology to send coupons and other promotions to consumers on mobile devices.

Bank of America Corp. is collaborating with Visa Inc. and DeviceFidelity Inc. on a program to begin in September in New York that will enable consumers' smartphones to operate as contactless payment devices, Visa confirmed.

Most U.S. financial institutions continue to support debit card rewards programs, although significantly fewer plan to roll out new programs this year, according to new data from Discover Financial Services' Pulse electronic funds transfer network.

Though payment card volume at many merchants is still down from a year earlier, a new report from Capital Access Network Inc. shows that the decline is slowing — and that spending at high-end restaurants is even increasing.

New England Conservatory introduced this week a multiapplication campus card program that makes the school virtually cashless, using technology from CardSmith LLC.

Citic Bank International Ltd., a member of the China Citic Bank Group, is now using the Clearing House Interbank Payments System to handle wire-transfer payments.

American Express Co. remains cautious about the economy and the current regulatory environment, but the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act will affect the company more than the financial reform, executives said.

CreditCall Ltd. is developing a mobile-payment application to enable merchants to accept secure chip-and-PIN transactions on Blackberry and other smart phones, the United Kingdom-based payment processor announced last week.

Visa Europe has introduced an information management system for its commercial cards. The Visa IntelliLink Spend Management system, announced Thursday, lets commercial cardholders view and manage their business spending.

Use of mobile banking services is growing significantly, but it has not yet become a mainstream service, according to a report from IDC Financial Insights.

Discover Financial Services is making its network more useful for consumers in other countries by teaming up with the Serbian national payments network DinaCard.

First National Bank of Omaha and Murphy Oil Corp. have introduced the Murphy USA Platinum Visa card enabling cardholders to earn rewards on transactions as well as savings on gasoline purchases.

Campus card systems are catching on with colleges and universities, which say the payment systems can help them save money and increase security.

With preferences for carrying and using cash continuing to drop, more consumers expect merchants to accept debit or credit cards for payment. But not all merchants do, especially those that lack physical storefronts. Some industry insiders believe mobile-based products might help encourage them to accept electronic payments.

Consumers prefer smaller rewards they can redeem faster for making purchases with payment cards over larger perks such as airplane tickets that they earn more slowly, according to a study conducted by Synergistics Research Corp.

ABN Amro NV announced it has completed an internal test of contactless debit cards for small-value transactions. The Dutch banking company expects to conduct a larger test starting this summer.

Just two of the 2,100 CUs with credit card receivables of $1M or more sold their portfolios during the first quarter and sales will likely remain low all year, according to TRK Advisors.

Mocapay Inc. on June 10 announced a partnership with point-of-sale equipment reseller Postec Inc. that will enable merchants to support both mobile payments and mobile promotions.

Gemalto NV's consulting services unit has became the first company to join MasterCard Inc.'s M/Chip Accredited Third-Party program to help issuers develop card products that comply with the EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications.