Technology

The announcement last week by several telecommunication companies of plans to create a joint venture to fast-track mobile-payments processing potentially has broad implications for the mobile-payments market in Europe. But the companies have worked together before with little resulting success.

Despite efforts by major card companies to promote the speed and excitement of using mobile phones to pay, it likely will take more than glitzy marketing to convince consumers to use such services, according to a Federal Reserve strategist.

ACA International officials on Monday introduced "The Path Forward: A Blueprint for Modernizing America’s Debt Collection System" - a five-point plan it hopes will improve collections by reducing, preventing and better resolving consumer complaints.

China UnionPay customers now may use their cards in Peru under an agreement the card company signed last week with Lima-based Interbank Ltd., a spokesperson from the card company tells PaymentsSource.

Ukash, a United Kingdom-based firm that sells prepaid vouchers for online shopping, is expanding the product’s functionality and giving users the option to transfer unused funds to an account accessible with a MasterCard-branded prepaid debit smart card.

Telefónica UK, Vodafone UK, and T-Mobile and Orange parent Everything Everywhere plan to form a joint venture in mobile marketing and payments, the companies announced June 16.

The Federal Reserve’s proposed cap on debit fees is “discriminatory,” because it singles out the nation’s biggest banks and credit unions, so should be barred from being finalized, lawyers for Minnesota’s TCF Bank told a federal appeals court yesterday.

Citigroup Inc. on June 15 clarified the timeline and updated the number of accounts breached in a recent hacker attack that put an estimated 1% of its North American Citi-branded credit card base at risk.

MasterCard Worldwide is making headway in the use of its PayPass service by embedding the contactless chips in wristbands distributed at festivals and other events.

MasterCard Worldwide is making headway in the use of its PayPass service by embedding the contactless chips in wristbands distributed at festivals and other events.