Technology

Citing convenience and low interest rates, many credit cardholders prefer to leave a balance on one or more credit cards and accept revolving as a way of life, and this is helping issuers to generate more interest income, new research suggests.

Hoping to reach out to Brazil’s 75 million unbanked consumers, Banco PanAmericano SA, MasterCard Worldwide and Rev Worldwide have launched the country’s first reloadable prepaid card for everyday purchases, the Brazil-based bank announced April 29.

UC Mobile Corp. has entered China’s mobile-payments market in partnership with Alipay, the country’s largest independent online-payment platform based on transaction volume, the company announced April 21.

CHICAGO—At least one industry observer believes increasing contactless-payment adoption could help the United States to migrate to EMV chip-and-PIN technology and eventually to widespread mobile payments.

Strong processing volume among small and midsize merchants and growth in noncard operations contributed to an 13.7% increase in Heartland Payment Systems Inc. first-quarter total revenue, to $467.7 million from $411.2 million during the same period last year. Net income was down 44.4%, to $7.9 million from $14.2 million.

Blackhawk Network is expanding the sale of its prepaid cards to Mexico by putting its Gift Card Mall displays in hundreds of Office Depot and Comercial Mexicana stores.

The payments processor Total System Services Inc. said Tuesday that its board has approved increasing the number of shares it can repurchase under its existing plan to 15 million from 10 million.

WorldPay, the payments processor formerly owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Envoy Services Ltd., a London company that provides e-commerce payment services.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has scrapped a test of higher ATM fees it did in two states for noncustomers, a spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

An increase in transaction volume at its merchants and higher debit network fees from its bank clients helped payments processor First Data Corp. increase its quarterly revenue by 6% from a year earlier to $2.5 billion.