Fintech

NetSpend Holdings Inc. has learned the hard way that tapping into the vast market of underbanked consumers is not so easy.

CorFire is working to show it is ready to make a name for itself in mobile payments.

As part of a promotion to drive more cardholders to use credit cards to pay routine bills, customers of bill payment firm ChargeSmart Inc. will waive its service fees for customers who pay their utility bills using a Discover card, the companies recently announced.

Chris Olson doesn't count himself among EMV's detractors or evangelists. "It's a lot like Beta or VHS, you don't really know how it's going to turn out," says Fremont Bank's COO on the question of whether EMV cards (debit or credit cards embedded with a computer chip that meets the standard named for creators Europay, MasterCard and Visa), magnetic stripe cards or some other kind of point-of-sale plastic will dominate the U.S. card market in the future.

MasterCard Inc. is aiming to drive more prepaid card transactions over its payment network through a deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

A possible tie-up between bank technology vendors Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, and Misys PLC has fallen through after the companies failed to agree on price.

Prepaid card marketer NetSpend Holdings Inc. reported a 10.3% second quarter year-over-year increase in revenue on Aug. 3 as use of its cards rose.

Though First Data Corp.’s second-quarter earnings show losses tied to debt service from a 2007 takeover by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., company executives pointed to positive revenue numbers and strong liquidity during an Aug. 3 conference call with analysts.

As financial institutions continue to cut debit card reward programs, new research suggests consumers spend more per month when they have an incentive to do so.

Visa Inc. fired the first shot in the post-Durbin pricing war, but MasterCard Worldwide is not ready to pull the trigger, at least not yet.