Cards

Shipments of smart cards in China will exceed 1 billion by 2016, helping China catch up to Europe, Japan and other countries that have begun to transition to smart cards to improve security, according to a recently released report by IMS Research Ltd.

In a significant boost to mobile payments in China, the country’s sole card processor China UnionPay Co. Ltd. has formed a partnership with handset maker HTC Corp. to launch a phone with a built-in mobile-payment facility.

Enhancing the services it provides to merchants using its transaction-processing services, the Shazam electronic funds network on Aug. 23 unveiled an innovation it says will streamline merchants’ processes, particularly when authorizing PIN-debit transactions online.

After months of wrangling, the Federal Reserve Board’s decision to cap debit card interchange rates may have seemed like the final word. The reality, however, appears more complex.

A new point-of-sale terminal from Vivotech Inc. capable of accepting Near Field Communication mobile payments and chip-and-PIN transactions could help position U.S. merchants to embrace EMV smart card technology and perhaps save them money on security-standards compliance costs, the vendor believes.

Intuit Inc.'s Mint.com is adding bill payment reminders to its free personal financial management service.

Not only are more banks offering mobile banking, more are also releasing multiple applications to try to appeal to as many types of banking customers as possible.

S1 Corp.'s board urged shareholders on Aug. 22 to vote in favor of the company's pending merger with Fundtech Ltd. because it says the deal would propel the technology vendors ahead of their competitors for payments software.

Transferring funds from a debit card account issued in the United States to one in Mexico will be a far easier process under an agreement Global Payout Inc. reached with a lending company in Mexico, a Global Payout executive says.

Independent sales organizations, which sell payment card acceptance to merchants, see a big opportunity in Visa Inc.’s decision to accelerate the switch to EMV chip-and-PIN cards in the United States.

Half of consumers who overdraw their checking account do so by $40 or less, yet it costs them about $58 each time, new research has found.

Years may pass before some merchants realize any savings from the debit card interchange-fee cap mandated by the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act.

Seeking to boost its market share in Malaysia, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. on Aug. 10 launched a debit card designed for small and midsize businesses.

Rising interest in the emergence of mobile-payment technologies for smartphones appears to be spurring a gold-rush mentality among would-be developers looking to produce the next hit mobile-payment application.

Hearing the “click-click” of a train conductor punching small holes in paper tickets soon will become less apparent on the Long Island Rail Road when conductors begin using a smartphone device to accept card payments on the busy New York rail system.

The screen-card maker Dynamics Inc. is improving its production capabilities through the purchase of a 115,000 square-foot facility in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. closed some of their card customers' accounts this week, citing data breaches at unidentified retailers.

Citigroup Inc. has launched a mobile-rewards application with Best Buy Co. Inc. that enables its cardholders to redeem ThankYou rewards, Citi announced Aug. 18.

A collaboration involving Digi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd., Alliance Bank Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and MasterCard Worldwide has led to the launch of Malaysia’s first telco-branded prepaid card, the companies announced Aug. 16.

The State Bank of Pakistan is warning banks in Pakistan against any disruptions in ATM service during the Ramadan and Eid holidays in the country.