Cards

The availability of NFC smartphones — an ingredient many say is necessary for mobile payments systems to take off — may be a less onerous problem by 2014, a report from Juniper Research said.

Citing increased international growth, Citigroup Inc. on April 18 reported an $864 million profit for its Citi-branded credit card operation for the first quarter ended March 31, up 397% from $174 million during the same period a year earlier.

Visa Europe is expressing dissatisfaction with last week’s General Court of the European Union’s decision to uphold the 10.2 million euro (US14.7 million or £8.7 million) fine imposed on the company for refusing to do business with a U.S. bank, saying it had already settled the dispute in 2006.

AisleBuyer LLC, a Boston company, is selling mobile software that enables a consumer to scan an image of a payment card and use it to pay for in-store and online purchases.

Corporation Bank Ltd. has launched a mobile wallet to enable its customers to make purchases with their mobile handsets, a spokesperson for the Mangalore-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Instead of worrying about the negative impact legislation may have on card programs, community-based financial institutions should analyze what cardholders want from a rewards program by examining their card use and create programs that cater to those results, a new white paper suggests.

When calculating the biggest losers of the Durbin amendment’s cap on debit fee count among them Navy FCU, the nation’s largest credit union and seventh-largest issuer of Visa debit cards.

MasterCard Inc. said April 15 that it has completed its purchase of the back-office prepaid card operations of Travelex Holdings Ltd. of London.

While applications that let consumers deposit checks via mobile phone are all the rage, some banks are finally getting around to upgrading remote deposit technology for its original audience: businesses.

Jeroo Inc. said it is testing a mobile payment technology called Scan&Ship Enterprise.

Citing increased consumer spending and improving economic conditions, Bank of America Corp.’s Global Card Services unit posted a sharp profit-increase during the first quarter ended March 31.

Contactless ATMs, which promise to provide faster access to cash and other transactions, are getting one of their first substantial rollouts in Spain.

Diamond Bank PLC and Qatar Airways Ltd. have entered into a partnership designed to increase use of the bank’s payment cards, the Nigeria-based bank announced April 13.

Minnesota’s TCF Bank filed a an expedited appeal request April 14 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit asking the court to overturn a lower court’s ruling and to block the Federal Reserve’s pending implementation of the Durbin amendment’s debit fee caps.

Two teenagers were arrested and charged with safecracking in connection with last week’s failed attempts to break into ATMs at South Carolina FCU and Suntrust Bank using a blow torch.

WASHINGTON – A major technology group comprised of some of the biggest corporations shifted its position on the proposed delay in debit rules a week after expressing support for the delay.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minnesota’s TCF Bank filed a an expedited appeal request yesterday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit asking the court to overturn a lower court’s ruling and to block the Federal Reserve’s pending implementation of the Durbin amendment’s debit fee caps.

The fight over the interchange amendment heated up on Wednesday when Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon an open letter defending the provision.

Momentum for the EMV smart card security standard, common in many European countries, grew this week with JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. announcing plans to start issuing EMV cards to U.S. customers this summer.

For the major card brands, emerging global markets that broadly lack access to financial services likely will represent the greatest earnings potential for mobile-payments initiatives, concludes a report from Macquarie Equities Research Group.