Cards

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.

Providing comprehensive, bankwide rewards programs may do more to maintain customer loyalty than do debit card rewards, which some banks are looking to trim or eliminate because of reductions in interchange revenue, a new survey report suggests.

A new mobile-payment service in South Africa enables consumers to pay for purchases using their PIN-debit cards online.

MoneyGram International Inc. remains focused on reinvesting in its core business coming off a second quarter that saw it achieve double-digit growth in funds-transfer revenue, transaction volume and agent locations.

Starbucks Corp. is reaping the benefits of increased participation in its prepaid loyalty card program and its ongoing expansion into mobile payments in the U.S., the company said July 29 when announcing results for its fiscal third quarter.

Green Dot Corp.’s top executive says its reloadable prepaid cards will be exempt from the Federal Reserve Board’s new rule limiting debit card interchange.

Green Dot Corp. continued to expand use of its prepaid cards in the second quarter, posting a 26.5% increase in its number of active cards from a year earlier.

Double-digit growth in funds-transfer revenue, transaction volume and agent locations helped create a significant boost in MoneyGram International Inc. second-quarter net income

Visa Inc. is overhauling its pricing to spur merchants to route transactions its way and defend a dominant share of the U.S. debit card market, a position endangered by new regulations.

Record second-quarter highs in processing sales volume and net revenue have Heartland Payment Systems Inc. executives singing the praises of a retooled sales force and diligence in monitoring expenses.

Helped by strong growth in purchase volume outside the U.S., Visa Inc. on July 27 reported healthy across-the-board fiscal third quarter transaction growth.

After two years in court, the many legal fights over banks’ overdraft practices have produced a national class action against Union Bank of California. And in a move that may put more pressure on banks, plaintiffs’ attorneys have moved to unseal records in the case.

Despite a weak national economy and uncertainty over the debt ceiling, business apparently is booming for independent sales organizations.

American Express Co. has nabbed a former Google Inc. executive to run a joint venture with French e-commerce website vente-privee.com.

Hacking suspects may blame their arrests on having picked the wrong target.

Visa Inc.’s fiscal third-quarter net income rose 40.4% from a year earlier due partly to a gain it recognized from the revaluation of a deal with Visa Europe.

The finalization of new debit card regulations likely will provide a tailwind to bank technology spending later this year, according to the top executive of vendor Fiserv Inc.