Technology

The board of directors of Ingenico SA earlier today rejected an unsolicited, nonbinding offer to acquire the company (see story).

Many indicators from financial institutions, consumers and merchants suggest the United States payments industry is ready to adopt EMV chip-and-PIN technology, a new report suggests.

Ten merchants have signed on to use First Data Corp.’s eGift Social system for sending virtual gift cards online, the Atlanta-based transaction processor announced Dec. 17.

For Visa Inc., MasterCard Worldwide and competing payments networks, a more critical provision than interchange pricing remains unresolved in the Federal Reserve’s proposed debit rules.

ATM manufacturers and operators saw a modest bump in their stock prices Dec. 16 following the Federal Reserve Board’s release of proposed rules that would dramatically restrict the interchange fees issuers receive for most debit card purchases.

Citibank reported Wednesday that its charge-off rate on credit cards fell to 9.4% of balances from 10.3% in October, the largest drop among the top six U.S. credit card issuers for November.



Russian credit cardholders will spend 10% more this month on their holiday spending compared with what they spent last December, ZAO Citibank predicts in a Dec. 13 report.

The 258 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia now accept bankcards, the fast-food provider’s acquirer Russian Standard Bank announced Dec. 13.

Asta Funding Inc., a publicly owned debt buyer, Tuesday reported net income of $3.1 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, compared to a net loss of $90.7 million during fiscal year 2009. 


Merchant cash-advance company AmeriMerchant LLC says the hundreds of merchant-services sales offices working with transaction processor First Data Corp. will have an easier time selling AmeriMerchant’s services through an agreement announced Dec. 14.