Cards

City Bank is upgrading its mobile-banking capabilities to compete with larger banks, always a concern for smaller institutions. At the same time, the $1.9 billion-asset bank, which serves a region surrounding Lubbock, Texas, also is experimenting with security applications for mobile devices that shield non-mobile channels.

Growth in loans, strong purchase volumes and stable margins helped Capital One Financial Corp.’s Credit Card unit to generate 2% fourth quarter revenue growth, to $2.59 billion from $2.54 billion during the same period in 2010. The unit’s profit, however, dropped 39.8%, to $353 million from $586 million.

New debit card interchange rules unfolded during the last quarter of a year already plagued by a sluggish economy, making it difficult for Bank of America Corp.’s Card Services unit to deliver positive fourth-quarter earnings.

With Visa debit card spending for online purchases reaching new heights in Europe and the United Kingdom, the timing appears right for consumers to tie those cards to mobile payments.

BancorpSouth Inc. in Tupelo, Miss., has selected Total System Services Inc. to process its debit card and consumer and commercial credit cards.

Move over Kim Kardashian, there's a new high-priced prepaid card in town.

Reductions in income caused by a debit card interchange rate reduction and reduced credit card interest income spurred Bank of America Corp.’s Card Services unit on Jan. 19 to report a 24.3% drop in fourth quarter net revenue, to $4.06 billion from $5.36 billion during the same period last year. Net income also dropped, by 20.9%, to $1.02 billion from $1.29 billion.

ATM maker Diebold Inc. plans to move its offices to a 55-acre site in nearby Green, Ohio, where it plans to build a new, $100 million headquarters.

This story has been updated to correct two errors in its original version.

Prepaid card provider nFinanSe Inc. has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court against InComm Inc., which distributes and markets prepaid cards, seeking to stop the company from operating its new Vanilla Reload Network, nFinanSe announced Jan. 17.

If financial-services companies have any reservations about being appointed the front-line enforcers for copyright protections under proposed anti-piracy legislation, now would be their time to strike.

Five more credit unions have agreed to settle pending civil suits alleging they violated the Electronic Funds Transfer Act’s fee-disclosure provisions, but at least one of the settlements is raising questions about the more than three dozen suits filed against credit unions and banks by a Michigan retiree and her boyfriend.

A longtime employee of Loomis Armored US Inc. has been charged with allegedly siphoning about $200,000 from credit union and bank ATMs throughout Seattle he was charged with replenishing with cash.

WASHINGTON¬–Personal-finance guru Suze Orman usually is the one dishing out the tough love. But the moment she put her name on a reloadable prepaid card, she was the one taking it.

Several major cities around the globe have been exposed to contactless-payment methods with cards or mobile phones, but Barcelona, Spain, soon may become the first city in which contactless is the dominant form of payment.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is partnering with tax-preparation companies Jackson Hewitt Inc. and H&R Block Inc. to offer free tax prep at more than 3,000 stores in a move that could boost deposits into the retailer’s prepaid card account.

Green Dot Corp. has been busy lately, closing out its long-awaited and controversial $15.7 million purchase of Bonneville Bancorp and plotting a customer acquisition initiative.

All of China’s bank-led payment platforms and third-party payment providers would have to ensure their customers use their real names when paying online under regulations the People’s Bank of China proposed Jan. 5.

The Indian government plans to expand the scope of its widely used Kisan credit card to enable farmers to use it also as a debit card linked to a separate account that earns interest, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture privy to the discussions tells PaymentsSource.

As European banks continue to establish standards for a Single Euro Payments Area, not nearly as much attention has focused on a similar process for ecommerce or mobile payments in the euro zone.