Technology

Expansion in C&I portfolios appears to have cooled a bit, but declines in other major loan categories moderated.

U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 709,303 nationwide during the first six months of 2011, an 8% decrease from the 770,117 total consumer filings during the same period a year ago, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods as well as for money transfers and Near Field Communication-enabled transactions will grow to $670 billion by 2015, up from $240 billion in 2011, according to a new Juniper Research study.

The emerging U.S. mobile-payments market could face some resistance from consumers who are worried about fraud, new research suggests.

Wikileaks and Iceland-based data-hosting service DataCell ehf. say they will file a complaint on July 7 with the European Commission against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide if the payment companies continue to block their payment-processing.

Consumer credit card growth, which has been on the decline for about three years, could be showing signs of life again, according to data Equifax Inc. released July 1.

Fresh off moving its Citi Ventures unit to the Bay Area to get close to the latest payments tech buzz, Citi’s investing in mobile payments firm Billing Revolution.

Western Union Co. said Tuesday that it is buying the business payments unit of London-based Travelex Holdings Ltd. for 606 million pounds, or about $1 billion.

In an unintended consequence of the newly revised federal rules on cybersecurity, banks are likely to fare much worse in lawsuits over fraud losses.

In its latest national, monthly report on consumer credit trends, Equifax reports that U.S. consumer credit continues to show signs of improvement as the recovery progresses, even with strong unemployment and housing headwinds.