Fintech

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Thanks to the introduction of a project-management tool that allows for two-way communication throughout its organization, $1.2 billion Numerica Credit Union has improved results in nearly every measurable category.

CHALRESTON, W.Va. — Pioneer West Virginia FCU has increased its credit card balances by more than 33% each of the last two years and is on pace to beat those results in 2013. The CU credits the jump to bringing the management of its portfolio in-house.

Through an expanded partnership between MasterCard and Green Dot, U.S. consumers holding a MasterCard prepaid card can reload the account through the Walmart Rapid Reload service.

Electronic and social media payments provider Ribbon is building a person to person payment service, joining a market that's small yet fiercely competitive, analysts say, adding that Ribbon will be pressured to pair P2P with other products.

InStore, an iPad-based mobile point of sale provider, has launched Gift Card Merchant, a free app for Apple devices that allows merchants to design physical gift cards to be printed.

A new multi-purse card called Coin recently caused a commotion as it sparked interest in the concept of a card with a dynamic magnetic stripe. But other companies have pitched similar concepts before.

Google Wallet now offers a plastic Google Wallet debit card designed as an alternative to using a smartphone to pay at the point of sale.

Visa Inc. is working with i2c to bring new prepaid processing options to countries where prepaid card use is growing.

Online PIN debit provider Acculynk now allows U.S. merchants to accept China UnionPay payments online.

Oberthur Technologies will supply First Data Corp. with EMV smart cards as part of a partnership in which both companies plan to promote use of the chip-based cards in the U.S.