Fintech

Meta Financial Group Inc.’s fiscal second quarter profit was cut in half from a year earlier as the Storm Lake, Iowa-based provider of prepaid cards continued to deal with penalties from the Office of Thrift Supervision stemming from one of its credit products.

While restaurants experienced a slight increase, small and mid-sized brick-and-mortar merchants experienced a 3.09% decline in overall credit and signature-debit card sales during the first quarter ended March 31. This marked the 14th consecutive quarterly decline, new research suggests.

Banks in the Pacific Island nation of Fiji should invest in educating their customers on the use of ATMs and payment card terminals, the Consumer Council suggests in a May 5 report.

VeriFone Systems Inc., the nation's largest maker of point of sale terminals, is introducing a new one that could make it as easy for merchants to accept alternative payments as it is to take Visa or MasterCard.

PayNearMe Inc. has launched a bill-payment function for its cash payment system that works with bar codes printed on billers’ statements.

American Express Co. will sell gift cards in more than 1,800 post offices starting in June under a pilot with the U.S. Postal Service.

Socialwise Inc. is furthering its promotion of its BillMyParents alternative payment system through its partnership with skateboarding star Rob Dyrdek.

Mitek Systems Inc. said it added two large banks to its roster of clients using its mobile check-deposit technology during the quarter ended March 31, as its market share in the category continues to grow.

The steady decline in credit card charge-offs that continued through the first quarter helped make issuers’ earnings look good, but that trend cannot continue forever, Fitch Ratings Inc. warned in a May 6 special report.

Hypercom Corp. reported Monday that it swung to a loss of nearly $3.5 million during the first quarter from a profit of $375,000 a year earlier.