Fintech

Integrating new card products into underserved, but financially viable, cultural groups takes more than just marketing campaigns translated into different languages or a flashy ad campaign using consumers from those communities. It takes trust, financial experts say.

Target Corp.’s credit card profits nearly quadrupled in the fiscal fourth quarter as the retailer wrote off fewer loans and socked away less to cover for future losses.

According to a Dow Jones report, top executives at Citi, the third-largest bank in the U.S. by assets, have long felt it was too technocratic, with a focus on products rather than service and selling. Manuel Medina-Mora, consumer chief for the Americas, pledged change, and in September hired Cecilia Stewart as head of retail and Jud Linville as head of cards to help design and implement a new strategy.

Authorities discovered nine card-skimming devices attached to local ATMs last week that caused thousands of dollars of fraud losses to area institutions, including $5,538 in fraudulent cash withdrawals from members’ accounts at Hughes Federal Credit Union.

LANSING, Mich. – Auto Body CU, chartered in 1949 to serve workers at the Fisher Auto Body company, in April will be changing its name to Astera CU to reflect a broader marketing effort.

The anticipated Federal Reserve Board cap on debit card interchange may send some payments startups, which pitched their services as low-cost alternatives, back to the drawing board.

Axis Bank Ltd. has launched a Visa-branded prepaid card in India designed for foreign tourists visiting the country, the issuer announced Feb. 21.

Turkish consumers using Visa-branded debit cards equipped with EMV chips will have the ability later this year to get cash back at the point of sale at retailers that offer the service, Visa Europe announced Feb. 23.

States already using prepaid debit cards to disburse unemployment benefits likely saw economic and practical reasons to make the switch from distributing checks. Connecticut is the latest state to have similar aspirations.

The Electronic Transactions Association’s payments professional certification program will debut by the end of the year, the trade group announced Feb. 22.