Fintech

Growth in loans, strong purchase volumes and stable margins helped Capital One Financial Corp.’s Credit Card unit to generate 2% fourth quarter revenue growth, to $2.59 billion from $2.54 billion during the same period in 2010. The unit’s profit, however, dropped 39.8%, to $353 million from $586 million.

New debit card interchange rules unfolded during the last quarter of a year already plagued by a sluggish economy, making it difficult for Bank of America Corp.’s Card Services unit to deliver positive fourth-quarter earnings.

With Visa debit card spending for online purchases reaching new heights in Europe and the United Kingdom, the timing appears right for consumers to tie those cards to mobile payments.

BancorpSouth Inc. in Tupelo, Miss., has selected Total System Services Inc. to process its debit card and consumer and commercial credit cards.

Move over Kim Kardashian, there's a new high-priced prepaid card in town.

Reductions in income caused by a debit card interchange rate reduction and reduced credit card interest income spurred Bank of America Corp.’s Card Services unit on Jan. 19 to report a 24.3% drop in fourth quarter net revenue, to $4.06 billion from $5.36 billion during the same period last year. Net income also dropped, by 20.9%, to $1.02 billion from $1.29 billion.

ATM maker Diebold Inc. plans to move its offices to a 55-acre site in nearby Green, Ohio, where it plans to build a new, $100 million headquarters.

Target Corp., which has tried for years to sell its credit card assets, is giving up for now, and it is spending more than $2.8 billion to divorce itself from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

This story has been updated to correct two errors in its original version.

Prepaid card provider nFinanSe Inc. has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court against InComm Inc., which distributes and markets prepaid cards, seeking to stop the company from operating its new Vanilla Reload Network, nFinanSe announced Jan. 17.