Bank technology

The total value loaded onto network-branded prepaid debit cards in the U.S. could reach $440 billion in 2017, nearly four times the $120.2 billion last year.

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Through an arrangement announced Monday by the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes, people with girocard debit cards issued in Germany can now use them at the 63,000 automated teller machines connected to the U.K.'s Link electronic funds transfer network.

Discover Financial Services is making its network more useful for consumers in other countries by teaming up with the Serbian national payments network DinaCard.

The ice cream chain Cold Stone Creamery last week introduced an e-gifting service that lets people send a code through Facebook pages that can be redeemed at its 1,400 U.S. locations. The service is based on payments software developed by First Data Corp.

AT&T Inc. is moving into mobile payments. The Dallas telecommunications company will offer two payments applications from Apriva Inc. to its merchant customers.

Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank has begun offering merchants there the ability to accept cards issued by JCB Co. Ltd. under an agreement the two companies signed last fall, according to JCB.

Habib Bank Ltd. in Karachi is planning to buy the credit card portfolio of Citibank Pakistan, according to published reports.

Bank of America Corp. hopes to improve the ability of its corporate clients to view their financial positions worldwide with its new Global Liquidity Platform.

Though the Chicago company is not abandoning its current business — selling card readers that plug into computers and let people make online PIN debit purchases — it is now developing an "anywhere commerce" model for on-the-go merchants such as flea market vendors who want to plug it into a mobile device to accept payments in the field.

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Bluepoint Solutions Inc. has begun offering a mobile remote deposit capture system called QwikDeposit To Go. It allows consumers to deposit checks from smartphones by photographing both sides of a check with the phone's built-in camera.

Page Valley Bank in Luray, Va., is converting its core processing system to the outsourced version of Jack Henry & Associates Inc.'s SilverLake product, the companies announced Thursday.

A quick-serve restaurant chain is testing Apple Inc.'s iPad as a customer-facing ordering and payment device, according to OrderTalk Inc., which makes online ordering systems for restaurants.

In their wallets, millions of U.S. consumers carry payment cards with chips that can support a highly regarded security format used in much of the industrialized world — just not here.

Talaris Ltd. said Wednesday that it has hired Tim Robinson as its chief executive. Robinson was most recently CEO of the financial services company Xafinity.

MasterCard Inc. announced a free application for Apple Inc.'s iPhone that lets users track special deals offered through the payments network's online shopping portal, MasterCard MarketPlace.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC said Wednesday that it had acquired the assets of TNB Card Services from Town North Bank in Dallas.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is offering a mobile remote capture application that customers can use to electronically deposit checks with their phones.