Cards

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is considering limiting the size of purchases allowed on its debit cards in response to the Federal Reserve Board's proposed cap on interchange fees.

Wary ISOs and acquirers are putting hiring and other plans on hold as they await the Federal Reserve Board's final version of new debit card interchange rules, which likely will reconfigure their revenue streams.

Bank of America Corp. is adding another fee that may lead some of its customers to shut off paper statements.

While hope is rising in some quarters that lawmakers may direct the Federal Reserve Board to delay or avoid implementation of its proposed debit card interchange rates, a large national merchants’ association sees little chance of lawmakers derailing the proposed rules.

The combination of Square Inc.’s popularity and forthcoming reduced debit card interchange fees is helping HomeATM ePayment Solutions to finally gain traction in the marketplace, according to the company’s president and CEO.

Intuit Inc. is furthering its strategy to become a go-to provider to small businesses for their payment needs.

In the six years that Citibank has offered its Thank You Rewards program, nearly 11 million checking and credit-card customers have signed up to earn points through just about every interaction they have with the bank. Making a debit or credit purchase or opening a money market account rings up points that Thank You members can use to get a new flat-screen television or a trip to Tahiti.

The United Arab Emirates is planning a series of enforceable regulations that will put more teeth into prohibitions against merchants assessing surcharges on credit card purchases.

BECU plans to launch a debit card in conjunction with the University of Washington today, marking the first credit union to have a partnership of this type with the university.

Hypercom Corp.’s preview of its fourth-quarter earnings Feb. 16 raised fears about the viability of VeriFone Systems Inc.’s plans to acquire its competitor in the second half of the year.

WASHINGTON – Nearly seven months after passing a bill that included a measure to limit interchange fees on debit cards, lawmakers today were expressing buyer’s remorse.

Having successfully nudged lawmakers to reconsider interchange caps, card issuers and payments networks are weighing the ramifications of another, less-discussed part of the Durbin amendment: so-called steering rules.

Decoupled-debit card programs could see a surge of fresh interest from merchants and consumers if the Federal Reserve Board’s new debit-interchange rules go through as proposed, the purveyor of one such alternative payment scheme insists.

A glance at fraud statistics would seem to yield an obvious answer: the United States needs to catch up with the rest of the world and upgrade old-school magnetic stripe cards to modern chip and PIN models.

Euronet Worldwide Inc.’s EFT Processing and epay segments reported strong fourth-quarter transaction growth. However, the gains did not translate into increased revenue for the units.

Revenues earned by credit unions from debit card interchange is far more than was previously thought – an estimated $2.6 billion for 2010 – according to CUNA, which is preparing testimony for tomorrow’s Congressional hearing on interchange legislation.

Mobile-network operators NTT Docomo Inc. of Japan and KT Corp. of South Korea have inked a deal to support Near Field Communication payments for smartphones in the two countries that use Google Inc.’s Android operating system.

The Australian capital territory of Canberra plans to roll out the MyWay smart card ticketing system on its Action bus service starting Feb. 21, a spokesperson at the bus operator tells PaymentsSource.

Financial institutions and consumers will be able to more quickly detect and respond to fraudulent transactions and suspicious bank-account activity using a mobile-based fraud-management service ClairMail Inc. has developed, the San Rafael, Calif.-based company announced Feb. 17.

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed doubt this morning on the workability of exemptions for credit unions and small banks from the debit interchange price controls required under the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act.