Cards

MONETT, Mo. – Jack Henry & Associates announced this morning it is partnering with TransCard to offer credit unions and banks prepaid cards.

American Express Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth I. Chenault netted $15.4 million before taxes from the exercise of stock options and the sale of restricted shares.

The prepaid card provider BillMyParents has hired Kim Petry to be its new chief financial officer, replacing Jonathan Shultz, in an appointment that’s scheduled to take effect in mid-to-late February.

American Express says it is working with Twitter to expand its cardholders' ability to shop over the social networking site.

A MasterCard Inc. "mobile preparedness" study in 2012 indicated that Singapore, Canada and the U.S. were the countries most prepared to offer payments technology and innovation to serve willing consumers. But the study also showed the U.S. ranking 10th when it came to "consumer readiness" for adopting mobile payments.

Apple is said to be developing a “smart” wristwatch that includes mobile payments functionality.

ERN is launching a product that attempts to meld issuer and retailer spending details to produce real-time offers at the point of sale. It faces plenty of competition in its efforts to bring granularity to marketing.

As card fraud progressively moves to e-commerce, more vendors offer merchants the tools to monitor their progress in thwarting cybercrooks — and the information collected in protecting their data also helps merchants promote sales.

From the start, mPowa CEO Dan Wagner has talked about partnerships being the key to getting his company’s chip-and-PIN mobile card reader into the hands of merchants – and eventually becoming a formidable foe to the likes of Square Inc. in the U.S.

After a frustrating year of knocking on doors, Sandra Young still couldn't persuade merchants to sign up for transaction services. She then decided to dedicate herself to a chore not many independent sales organizations or sales agent relish – convincing gas station owners and managers to accept card payments at the pump.

Despite some glitches that are hampering vigorous adoption, the companies targeting mobile payments are finding success in forging brand connections. The problem is their connections are with narrow constituencies, and are often based on competencies beyond mobile payments.

ShopKeep, which provides an iPad point of sale system, began supporting payments from SCVNGR's LevelUp loyalty and mobile payment system this week. One early adopter is already reporting success with the combined system.

Merchants shouldn't have their heads in the clouds when it comes to data security — especially when they rely on cloud computing to handle payment card data.

Visa's V.me digital wallet is picking up momentum and the initiative is "right on the point of the spear" of the card network's product development strategy, Visa says.

Eager to ply consumer data analytics as a carrot for issuers, MasterCard Advisors on Thursday announced a development partnership with data analytics company Mu Sigma, in which MasterCard purchased an equity stake.

This week's big bust of a credit card theft ring emphasizes the difficulty issuers face in locating fraudsters and the limitations of technology that can go only so far in mitigating the threat.

Many companies are idling while the U.S. considers its options for handling the migration to chip cards from magnetic-stripe cards. Even a company based in the UK finds itself stuck.

Visa's quarterly earnings increased by 26% from a year earlier, and its financial outlook for 2013 has also brightened, the company said Feb. 6.

A new partnership between Western Union Co. and Carrefour Group will provide money transfer and bill pay services at the big-box retailer's stores in Argentina, the companies announced Wednesday. In addition, Western Union extended its existing relationship to provide money transfer services at Walmart Canada locations.

The EMV smartcard standard is so commonly combined with a PIN code that most consumers know it simply as "chip-and-PIN." But Visa and MasterCard don't agree on whether PIN use should be a priority when the U.S. adopts the EMV standard.