Cards

It's a fact of doing business — even the most useful banking apps will not get as much screen time as Angry Birds. But bankers can learn from popular games and use similar technology as part of their customer interactions.

Hoping to replicate in Latin America the success of a payment card-based loyalty program similar to Canada’s Air Miles, Alliance Data Systems Corp. on May 5 said that its LoyaltyOne unit will play a key role in Banco do Brasil’s recently announced national rollout of Dotz, a broad payment card-based loyalty program.

Mobile users in India now have the ability to purchase tickets to the cricket Indian Premier League and movie theaters using Suvidha Starnet Pvt Ltd’s mobile-payment service.

The Central Bank of Afghanistan on April 25 granted the country’s first Electronic Money Institution license to M-Paisa, the first mobile funds-transfer service to operate in the country.

CHICAGO–A day after the Wall Street Journal reported Isis was changing its business model by working with other established payments organizations, an executive for the organization told a panel here at the Smart Card Alliance’s annual conference nothing had changed.

CHICAGO—Further delay in U.S. migration to EMV chip-and-PIN technology might be another unintended consequence if the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed 12-cent cap on debit card interchange is enforced, two analysts agreed during a panel discussion here May 4 at the Smart Card Alliance’s annual conference.

Merchant e-Solutions Inc. is rolling out a suite of mobile-payment applications on its new PayEverywhere platform, the company announced May 5

A nearly 68% boost in corporate card purchase volume helped Fleet card provider and processor Wright Express Corp. to report more than a 40% increase in first quarter revenue, Michael Dubyak, chairman, president and CEO, tells PaymentsSource.

For all the talk about the upcoming NFC-driven mobile payments revolution at the point of sale, new research from Oracle is throwing some cold water on the hype.

National Credit Union Administration released a study May 4 showing that many small credit unions currently lose money on their debit cards but for most credit unions debit is extremely lucrative.

Visa Inc. is likely to report positive second-quarter earnings Thursday afternoon, an analyst said.

Debit card issuers’ pain could be a gain for some payments processors.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is adding merchant accounts and is processing more transactions for its established merchants, thanks to a well-honed sales effort and a healthier economy.

Hoping to reach out to Brazil’s 75 million unbanked consumers, Banco PanAmericano SA, MasterCard Worldwide and Rev Worldwide have launched the country’s first reloadable prepaid card for everyday purchases, the Brazil-based bank announced April 29.

UC Mobile Corp. has entered China’s mobile-payments market in partnership with Alipay, the country’s largest independent online-payment platform based on transaction volume, the company announced April 21.

CHICAGO—At least one industry observer believes increasing contactless-payment adoption could help the United States to migrate to EMV chip-and-PIN technology and eventually to widespread mobile payments.

Strong processing volume among small and midsize merchants and growth in noncard operations contributed to an 13.7% increase in Heartland Payment Systems Inc. first-quarter total revenue, to $467.7 million from $411.2 million during the same period last year. Net income was down 44.4%, to $7.9 million from $14.2 million.

Blackhawk Network is expanding the sale of its prepaid cards to Mexico by putting its Gift Card Mall displays in hundreds of Office Depot and Comercial Mexicana stores.

The payments processor Total System Services Inc. said Tuesday that its board has approved increasing the number of shares it can repurchase under its existing plan to 15 million from 10 million.

WorldPay, the payments processor formerly owned by Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Envoy Services Ltd., a London company that provides e-commerce payment services.