Cards

Higher spending on its credit and debit cards boosted MasterCard Inc.’s second-quarter net revenue by 21.4% from a year earlier.

Payments technology vendor Fundtech Ltd.’s second-quarter revenue rose 16.4% from a year earlier to $40.5 million as it closed 130 new deals and added 14 new bank clients.

For a large international operation such as RBS' wholesale banking unit, drawing a mobile roadmap means scaling the knowledge curve posed by fast-developing new devices and technology to find the best match between innovation and client demand.

Cardtronics has acquired LocatorSearch, LLC, a provider of location search technology deployed by financial institutions to help customers and members find the nearest, most appropriate and convenient location based on the service they seek.

Account opening has long been an arduous process for banks and their customers alike, due to banks' procedures and regulatory requirements. But some banks, including Citi and Wells Fargo, are devoting resources to streamlining the onboarding process and making it mirror the experience of shopping at Amazon.com, Apple or Netflix.

Debit card issuers scrambling to ensure they have appropriate fraud-protection strategies in place before new debit-interchange rates kick in Oct. 1 are likely to confront some dilemmas, some analysts suggest.

The electronic-payments industry has come under unprecedented government scrutiny in the past 18 months, and it is unlikely to let up any time soon, contends a top official from the Electronic Transactions Association.

Uncertainty remains for clients of payments and banking software provider S1 Corp. despite its plan to stay the course on a proposed merger with Fundtech Ltd.

With 2.6 billion China UnionPay cardholders and 1.2 million Elavon Global Acquiring Solutions merchants worldwide, the math simply added up for an agreement that would enable Elavon merchants to accept UnionPay cards, an Elavon executive says.

A United Kingdom-based consumer-advocacy group once again is calling attention to card surcharges merchants add when consumers make credit and debit purchases online.

Digital payments have been the primary enabler of new financial services in Africa, as evidenced by the M-PESA-driven development of an entire financial ecosystem in Kenya. Further south, MTM MobileMoney has developed an electronic commerce payments system that enables debit payments, which should decrease seller discomfort with the credit-based digital commerce that has prevailed in that country.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is prepared to pass along what it calls “Durbin Dollars” to its merchant clients.

One of the most significant challenges to widespread adoption of Near Field Communication-enabled mobile payments has been determining how the card brands, issuers, mobile operators and handset manufacturers will divvy up transaction revenues.

To help distribute its Serve digital payment and wallet service, American Express Co. on Aug. 1 announced a deal in which Verizon Wireless will integrate the platform into many of its mobile phones and tablets.

The roster of big banks using Fiserv Inc.’s online personal payments system is growing with the addition of BBVA Compass.

After years of discussion, the acquiring industry is preparing to offer a credentialing system that proponents say will certify a professional’s mastery of a defined standard of practice and “quantify expertise.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened its doors July 21, a day after this nation commemorated the anniversary of the first manned mission to the moon. And just like Neil Armstrong maneuvered over the moon’s rocky surface, the government’s newest agency might present the payments industry with some uneven terrain to navigate.

A Michigan retiree who has sued more than three dozen credit unions and banks over the surcharge-fee notification requirements of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act has convinced ELGA CU to settle one suit by paying as much as $76,000 to nonmembers who used six of its ATMs that lacked the mandated external notice of a surcharge.

State Bank of India Ltd. on July 28 became the first card issuer in the country to announce plans to convert its entire portfolio of magnetic stripe credit cards to EMV chip-and-PIN formats.

Continued strong performance in European and Latin America markets, combined with expansion into Asia, helped provide Ingenico SA with a double-digit lift in revenue for the first half of 2011, the French terminal maker reported July 27.