Bank technology

Less than one-fourth of consumers have signed up for debit card overdraft coverage from banks, and 70% say they want to continue to exercise choice in their debit-overdraft options, according to a report from Consumers Union.

After piloting an online payment network that it says guards against potential identity theft, JetPay LLC will be providing that same platform, Secure Vault Payments, to its own clients.

Visa said in a Nov. 23 press release that it will triple the number of discounts it offers shoppers through Rightcliq, and make it easier to track shipments of purchases. Rightcliq will also now support Chrome, Google Inc.'s browser.

For a handful of pioneers, the mobile payments revolution needn't wait for questions about hardware to be resolved. Not when so much is possible with software innovations on existing phones.

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Blackboard Inc. and PE Systems LLC are partnering to help colleges and universities reduce their payment card acceptance costs.

Feds apprehend a hacker in New York caught selling stolen credit card numbers; LifeLock customers receive $12 million settlment for deceptive advertising; and more.

Electronic Payment Systems LLC, an independent sales organization in Denver, said a federal judge has ruled that it owns a toll-free number now used by about 515,000 merchants processing with TSYS Acquiring Solutions.

Though observers say it is clear that PayPal Inc. plans to move beyond e-commerce into point of sale transactions, there are still questions surrounding how that transition will happen.

Bank of America Corp. is building on its mobile payments strategy with plans to issue contactless stickers to its credit and debit card customers next year.

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Starbucks Corp. now includes PayPal Inc.'s payment system as a funding method for its mobile payment application.

With sponsorship from Citigroup Inc., Billing Revolution Inc. is trying to help convert people who window-shop on their mobile phones into paying customers.

Though companies are aligning themselves with different technologies in the mobile payment space, progress may stall as consumers and merchants remain undecided.

The Federal Reserve's forthcoming regulations on debit interchange may settle a long-running debate over whether fraud costs and risks are high enough to justify banks' current fees.

Weiss & Lurie, a New York law firm, is examining the proposed sale of Hypercom Corp. to VeriFone Systems Inc. for legal issues.

Global Payments Inc. said it will pay about $170 million to acquire a 51% stake in a new payments processing joint venture with la Caixa, Spain's largest retail bank.

Citing fewer defaults and a reduction in overall outstanding receivables, Target Corp.'s credit card unit more than doubled profit in its fiscal third quarter.

The spawning of a "mobile money" market in Haiti illustrates how mobile funds-transfer applications could develop elsewhere.

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