Fintech

NetSpend said that direct-deposit enrollment, as well as its work with retail partners, helped lift its earnings in the second quarter. It is also raising its fully-year guidance.

Credit card portfolio sales this year have snapped back to a pace last seen before the recession took hold. Their prices are also rising.

Bloggers and tech reporters have been quick to give Visa a swift kick in the pants for the failure of a point-of-sale system at London's Wembley Stadium during Olympic soccer matches this week. But Visa says, and Wembley Stadium has acknowledged, that the breakdown at the stadium occurred on a system that Wembley owns and operates.

As competition heats up for mobile-wallet providers, the various underlying technologies are starting to show whether they have long-term viability.

Long after the 2004 unveiling of the Payment Card Industry data security standard, many merchants remain unaware of it and know little about the threat data thieves pose, says Bill Farmer, CEO of Mako Networks.

Bank of America said it will contribute a total of $738 million to settle a price-fixing case brought by retailers over credit-card swipe fees.

PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker agreed to settle allegations that they used prepaid cards to launder money.

SCVNGR, the mobile-payments provider behind LevelUp, will use its latest venture-capital infusion to sign up national restaurant chains as it ramps up efforts to expand nationwide.

First Data, which processes about half of all U.S. card spending, recently identified that debit spending again overtook that of credit cards. Now another trend is emerging: PIN-debit use is growing much faster than signature debit and credit.

Higher One, the college-payment processor founded by three Yale students, is seeking a buyer and has contacted private-equity firms, said three people with knowledge of the discussions.