Fintech

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. – Robins FCU said it has acquired all the middle Georgia assets and accounts of Kentucky’s Park Community CU in an unusual credit union transaction.

Wright Express Corp. on April 1 announced it has acquired rapid! PayCard, a privately held provider of prepaid payroll debit cards and electronic pay stubs. The South Portland, Maine-based company, which specializes in fleet cards, said it was a cash deal but did not disclose the terms.

Loomis Fargo & Co. plans to acquire the cash-handling business of Pendum LLC to add to its ATM-servicing operations, the Houston-based subsidiary of Securitas AB of Sweden announced March 31.

When a number of large banks recently upset their debit card customers by announcing cuts to rewards, they blamed the pending debit interchange cap. What, or whom, will they blame if Congress changes or delays the cap's implementation — and they don't reinstate the rewards programs?

This article was revised after Vivotech distributed a follow-up press release containing various "corrections."

Western Union Co. is expanding an initiative to enable Kenyan migrants to send funds to recipients in their home country who subscribe to Safaricon’s M-Pesa mobile wallet, the companies announced March 31.

Global Collect B.V. has signed an agreement to process credit card payments for Royal Jordanian Airlines, the companies announced March 28.

A San Francisco-based company on March 30 announced its introduction of a modular set of software frameworks and applications designed to facilitate deployment of Near Field Communication payments and other contactless services by resolving fragmentation and interoperability issues affecting NFC software and hardware installations.

A coalition representing consumers this week is urging lawmakers to oppose legislation that would put the brakes on proposed debit-interchange rate reductions, while a group of 7-Eleven Inc. franchisees similarly is vowing to keep lobbying Congress to oppose such a delay.

WASHINGTON – Supporters of a bill to delay the rule on debit interchange continued to build support this afternoon as Senate backers worked to collect the 60 votes they will need to attach their bill to bipartisan small business legislation. The Federal Reserve’s proposed rule to cap interchange fees on debit, said Montana Democrat Jon Tester, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, “will further consolidate financial institutions in this country, and that’s the last thing we need.” Tester’s remarks on the Senate floor followed those by Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, the sponsor of the fee cap rule, who indicated he will filibuster the bill to delay the rule–meaning supporters of the delay will need 60 of the Senate’s 100 members to sign on. Sources told the Credit Union Journal this afternoon they have tentative commitments from 52 senators, leaving them well short of what will be needed to overcome Durbin’s filibuster. So there was serious doubt the delay bid will be attached to the small business bill. Tester, who co-sponsored a bill to delay the Fed’s rule for as long as two years while further study is conducted on the exemption for credit unions and community banks, painted a bleak picture of the rule’s impact. “These rules are going to put community banks and credit unions out of business,” he told his Senate colleagues. The stakes in the fight are enormous, with merchants paying banks and credit unions an estimated $20.5 billion a year in debit fees–$2.6 billion of it alone going to credit unions.