Cards

Visa Europe has introduced a payment card that enables consumers to enter one-time passcodes designed to reduced fraud for online transactions, a Visa Europe spokesperson tells CardLine Global. Visa says the technology is suitable for chip-based debit or credit cards. "Visa is now offering this to members as a pilot," the spokesperson says, declining to discuss which banks have expressed interest in the technology, how long the tests will last and how many of the "Visa PIN cards" issuers will distribute. Visa wants consumers to use the cards while making an online transaction or logging in to online-banking sites. A cardholder would press a button on the card to start the authentication process and, when prompted, enter the appropriate PIN. The card's display panel provides a one-time passcode, which the cardholder enters into the site's Verified by Visa window, the spokesperson says. "This is then forwarded to the issuing bank, which validates the passcode," the spokesperson says. "For online banking, once you've logged in and put in your account number, the passcode would be in place of the password. Again, it would be the issuing bank that validates."

Citibank, which operates the nation's eighth-largest bank-owned ATM network, will replace 61% of its 3,300 machines over the next year, Robert Julavits, a Citibank spokesperson, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication. Citi is purchasing ATMs from NCR Corp., Diebold Inc. and Nautilus Hyosung America Inc. to replace 2,000 Citibank-manufactured ATMs, Julavits says. The bank in the past few years has purchased 1,300 ATMs from NCR and Diebold. New York-based Citibank historically has assembled its own ATMs by buying modules, such as a receipt printers, individually from various ATM manufacturers, including NCR and Diebold. Spokespersons for Diebold, Nautilus Hyosung and NCR say the Citibank contract precludes them from discussing their arrangements with the bank.

Fiserv Inc. is working to offer its walk-in bill-payment service in branches of banks that are trying to reach the underbanked, a large and potentially lucrative market.

The Treasury Department hopes that encouraging the unbanked to receive their Social Security benefits on a prepaid card will save $42 million a year, despite several fees.

MIAMI — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has sold more than 1 million of its prepaid MoneyCards, and customers have loaded more than $1 billion on to them, since they were introduced nearly a year ago, said Jane Thompson, the president of the retailer's financial services business.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon says its debit cardholders now can receive discounts at more than 50 merchants under a new promotion, according to press reports. The bank offered no immediate comment to CardLine Global, but the financial institution previously had offered the promotion to credit cardholders, according to reports. The bank issues Visa-branded cards. Bank officials say consumer use of debit cards has been growing since financial authorities imposed a 1% "stamp duty" on credit card purchases, and the bank hopes the promotion sparks even more use, according to reports. The bank has 200,000 debit cardholders. The promotion will run until the end of the year.

Financial authorities in India reportedly will require payment card companies such as MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. to provide regular financial reports of suspicious international transactions. The Indian government wants to reduce money laundering, according to press reports. Government and payments officials were unavailable for immediate comment. India's government recently amended the existing Prevention of Money Laundering Act, adding casinos, card issuers and funds-transfer companies to the law, which is designed to help prevent illegal foreign currency from circulating in the country. The original law, enacted about three years ago, previously applied only to banks.

Payforit, a mobile-ticketing service developed by several Europe-based mobile operators including Orange and Vadafone, is now a ticketing option for consumers who want to attend a concert at the London nightclub Scala on 15 Aug. United Kingdom-based mobile-content providers Dialogue Communications and AEI Mobile launched the service for the concert, according to a joint statement. Payforit enables consumers to use their mobile phones to buy goods and services that cost up to £10 (US$19.69 or 12.51 euros), the statement says. Users can make one-time payments or subscribe to the service. To purchase a ticket to the event, customers send a text message to receive a link to the club's mobile Web site. Customers then use the Payforit system to buy their tickets, which are sent by text message. Each ticket costs £10, according to the statement. "Mobile ticketing is a no-brainer for event-organizers, a good proportion of which are already using [text messaging] as the preferred marketing channel for events and functions," Del Dias, AEI Mobile managing director, says in a statement. Dialogue Communications did not respond to CardLine Global requests for comment.

United Kingdom-based department-store chain Debenhams plc has launched a MasterCard-branded prepaid chip card, a spokesperson for PrePay Technologies Ltd., the UK firm that is managing the effort, tells CardLine Global. The card functions essentially as a debit card, "but with the functionality of a MasterCard rather than a Maestro card," the spokesperson says. Consumers can add value to the cards at such locations as Debenhams stores and outlets of UK-based Post Office Ltd., and through funds transfers from bank accounts. Cardholders also can choose to have their wages directly deposited to the card's account, the spokesperson says. The spokesperson declines to say how many cards the department store might issue this year. In general, increasing the use and acceptance of prepaid cards in the UK will require issuers to persuade consumers to "abandon traditionally free banking and switch to prepaid," the spokesperson says. But there is reason for optimism. "The financial climate we operate in currently means the 'spend only what you have' message associated with prepaid is more appealing to more people, and we are seeing an upsurge in the number of people applying and using [our] prepaid cards," the spokesperson says. Increasing the popularity of prepaid cards in the UK also will involve improving retail distribution and offering services "above and beyond those offered with High Street banking," he says. Debenhams operates about 145 stores in the UK and Ireland.

Fourteen thousand federal-benefits recipients have chosen to receive their funds electronically in prepaid debit card accounts instead of by check since the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service began promoting the option in 10 states earlier this year. The MasterCard-debit cards, known as Direct Express cards and issued by Dallas-based Comerica Bank, are available to any federal-benefits recipient who requests them, but "we are staggering the marketing in order to ensure a manageable process," says Judith Tillman, Financial Management Service commissioner. The bureau in April began marketing the cards to check recipients in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, each of which has a large number of residents who receive benefits checks. Last week, it began promoting the debit cards in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, which have a relatively high risk of weather-related disasters, says Tillman. "We are doing the remaining 40 states and territories at eight to 12 states per month, depending on state size," she says. Some 4 million unbanked individuals receive Social Security and Supplemental Security benefits, and the bureau expects to save $42 million annually if they convert to using the prepaid card to secure their funds, says Tillman. It costs the bureau 98 cents to send a check versus 10 cents for a direct deposit, she says.

Latin American consumers will hold more than 324 million general-purpose prepaid cards by 2015, says NovoPayment Inc., a provider of prepaid cards to the region. The company released the results of its study at SourceMedia's third annual Underbanked Financial Service Forum in Miami today. Consumers will have about $215 billion loaded on the cards in 2015, Miami-based NovoPayment says in a statement. The forecast covers 15 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela. NovoPayment says it is basing its estimates on such factors as the size of labor force, poverty rates, wages and banking use. Anabel Perez, NovoPayment CEO, tells CardLine the company provides about 700,000 cards in Venezuela and Peru.

HONOLULU – Aloha Pacific FCU offered its member some relief from rising gas prices yesterday--a new Affinity Card which provides a five-cents per gallon discount to members at 80 Aloha Petroleum locations.

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Daniel R. Perlin, an equity analyst at Wachovia Corp., has raised his price target range for Visa Inc. shares Friday to $95 to $100 from his previous range of $85 to $90.

Citigroup Inc. and AT&T Inc. introduced a cobranded card for small-business owners last week with perquisites that include prescription drug discounts and access to "an around-the-clock personal business assistant."

Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH has moved into second place among the world's largest ATM manufacturers based on shipments in 2007, according to a private study by Retail Banking Research, a London-based strategic research and consulting firm.

The Fed's rate-cutting strategy to counteract the credit crisis has had consequences in Net banking. The alluring five-percent-plus rates that ING Direct, Citi, Capital One and others once offered for high-yield, online savings accounts (HYSAs) have dwindled to three percent territory.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin introduced companion legislation Thursday to a bill by House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers that would regulate interchange fees.

The South Bend, Ind., banking company 1st Source Corp. is reissuing all its debit cards after hackers broke into its systems.

Higher gasoline and food prices are continuing to drive up consumer spending for necessities and reducing both spending on discretionary items and savings, according to Discover Financial Services.