Technology

Many small businesses in 2010 were hit particularly hard by fraud-related costs, suggesting financial institutions should do more to educate their small-business clients on fraud-prevention strategies, new research suggests.

Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade Ltd. will work with Saigon Fuel Joint Stock Co. to provide prepaid fuel payment card services, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

Improved foreign-exchange rates and higher fuel prices helped improve the first quarter performance at fleet card provider Fleetcor Technologies Inc.

Seeing an opportunity from consumers who have unspent gift cards, ChargeSmart Inc. is working with gift card exchange firm Plastic Jungle Inc. to enable its customers to use value left in proprietary merchant gift card accounts to pay bills from its website, Tim Brinkman, the online consumer bill payment company’s CEO, tells PaymentsSource.

Credit card terms have not changed much in the past year, despite some concerns that issuers would hike interest rates and fees on new accounts to offset the effects of restrictions imposed last year under the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, according to new data from The Pew Health Group.

SAN DIEGO–Mobile payments actually could increase the use of cards instead of replacing them with phones, an analyst said May 11 during a panel discussion on the future of merchant acquiring here at the Electronic Transactions Association’s Annual Meeting & Expo.

PIN-pad tampering at Michaels Stores Inc. occurred over a three-month period and so far has affected “fewer than 100” customers’ debit card accounts, but credit card data also may have been exposed, the retailer said May 13.

After the mobile-purchasing system in Apple Inc.’s iPhone game Smurfs’ Village led Apple to set new spending restrictions for mobile apps, the game’s developer has followed up with further restrictions for the game itself.

VeriFone Systems Inc. and Hypercom Corp. say they believe their merger can be completed in the second half of 2011, despite a civil antitrust lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed against the companies May 12.

Debt buyer Asta Funding Inc. reported flat earnings and revenue May 10 and a drop in cash collections for the fiscal second quarter ended March 31. The Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based firm also reported spending more on credit card and other debt portfolios during the quarter.