Technology

Borrowing on credit cards is close to bottoming out, according to lenders, but the nation's biggest players have had to cede market share during the sharpest contraction in the industry's history. Now they are increasingly fighting for the same kinds of customers.

The fraud management provider Memento Inc. announced April 28 that Bremer Financial Corp.’s Bremer Bank has agreed to use its technology.

Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Co. soon will enable consumers to pay their electricity bills though their mobiles phones.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, is pushing its debit-processing network to banks and credit unions as they await the outcome of pending caps on debit card interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s July deadline for capping debit interchange is just around the corner, but MasterCard Worldwide said it does not expect to feel its effects until at least next year.

CHICAGO—New technology and its associated costs are causing a dilemma in the United States payments space as the industry needs to determine when to adapt without falling too far behind other countries, an executive from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta told attendees here during a panel discussion May 3 at the Smart Card Alliance’s annual conference.

MasterCard Inc.’s profit leapt 23.5%, to $562 million in the first quarter from $455 million a year earlier, driven in part by a rise in payments. The card brand’s revenue rose 14.5%, to $1.5 billion from $1.31 billion.

MasterCard this morning reported a 23.6% surge in first quarter profits, as the number and dollar amount of debit transactions continued to lead its growth.

Sony Corp. is reporting that 12,700 credit and debit card numbers and expiration dates were exposed in a separate database from that affected by the massive PlayStation breach.

If 7,500 credit unions across the United States would get their members to contact their Congressional representatives, it would “help keep the pressure on” lawmakers and potentially halt implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, Nat Rosenberg, senior vice president of U.S. Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, told attendees at the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations Annual Conference in Las Vegas last week.