Cards

WASHINGTON – The credit union and banking lobbies were pulling out all the stops last night to round up a few more votes for their bid to delay cuts in debit fees, but the effort was still a handful of votes short.

Bling Nation, the mobile payments and loyalty company, has shut down its service in a move it insists is only temporary.

NEW ORLEANS — Banks intent on bringing mobile payments to a wide swath of customers will soon have to make difficult decisions about devices, partnerships, vendor management and employee training.

WASHINGTON–Banks appeared to be gaining the upper hand in their battle against retailers to delay pending interchange fee caps, but the fight was far from over.

All merchant acquirers and card issuers in India would have to establish adequate risk-management systems and processes to help prevent card fraud within the next 12 months under proposals outlined in a central bank working group report released June 2.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is attempting to capture some coin in what it views as one of the final frontiers of micropayments–commercial laundry machines.

WASHINGTON — A sponsor of legislation to ease the impact of interchange rules on banks announced another revision Tuesday as lawmakers prepare for a vote later this week.

WASHINGTON – Waiving a debit card issued by Congressional FCU, where he is a long-time member, Illinois Senator Richard Durbin urged Senate colleagues this afternoon to wait to see the details of the Federal Reserve’s final rule on debit fees before they vote to amend the rule.

WASHINGTON – A chief sponsor of the bid to delay debit fee cuts conceded this afternoon his proposal doesn’t have enough votes to pass and he moved instead to change the debit fee proposal to allow the Federal Reserve to consider additional costs, like fraud losses, in its final rule.

WASHINGTON – Chief sponsors of a bill to delay the cuts in debit fees were still searching for a compromise this morning as they appeared to be short of the 60 Senate votes necessary to pass the delay.

WASHINGTON – Chief sponsors of a bill to delay the cuts in debit fees were still searching for a compromise this morning as they appeared to be short of the 60 Senate votes necessary to pass the delay.

About 200 banks and credit unions are using Fiserv Inc.'s Mobile Money software, more than double the number that were live with the service a year ago, the Brookfield, Wis., vendor said June 6.

Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. are ending a joint venture they formed three years ago to develop a system to process automated clearing house payments, spokespeople for the banks said June 6.

Linking online bill pay to a bank’s rewards program is one way financial institutions could revitalize their customers’ use of online banking, suggests a new report.

Most credit card industry professionals believe social media will become a “significant factor” in customer service, with Twitter and Facebook outpacing blogs as the most popular methods for card brands to connect with consumers, suggest the results of a survey Firstsource Solutions conducted recently.

In a move backing its plan to showcase mobile payments at the London Summer Olympics and Paralympics Games in 2012, Visa Inc. says it will roll out a Near Field Communication-based mobile phone for payments linked to prepaid accounts from British bank Lloyds TSB.

Google Inc. is eliminating the Checkout icon next to ads it displays for merchants that use its alternative payment system.

Seeking to further standardize payment card functions and security within the Single Euro Payments Area, the European Payments Council on June 6 released its latest technology requirements.

To speed up checkout times for small-ticket transactions, a pilot under way at Australian retail chain Coles Supermarkets is enabling holders of EMV Chip-and-PIN credit cards to make purchases without having to enter a PIN.

EMerchants Ltd. on May 20 won a three-year contract to provide prepaid cards for Telechoice, the largest dealer for mobile operator Optus Ltd. in Australia.