Cards

PayPal Inc. is pushing to expand use of mobile-wallet services as it stakes out its turf in the mobile-payments market, executives said Feb. 10 during a presentation at parent eBay Inc.’s analyst and investors day.

Vendors often tout their products in press releases and through other efforts seeking publicity. But sometimes they choose to keep things relatively low key.

Positive fourth-quarter results bode well for Wright Express Corp., whose chief executive tells PaymentsSource the fleet card provider and issuer intends to carry the momentum into the new year.

More community colleges are beginning to adopt campus cards tied to prepaid accounts, as demonstrated by CardSmith LLC’s Feb. 7 announced deal in which it will support Southwestern Oregon Community College’s new card program.

Banks typically pitch personal financial management tools as a way to analyze past spending. A new approach flips that around to help consumers control future spending.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers are expected to press the case of credit unions and community banks asking for the Federal Reserve to ease off proposed price restrictions on debit interchange during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee next week.

ATMs, long a valuable resource for cardholders wanting ready access to cash, have become a growing target for crooks who like them for similar reasons, according to a researcher from ACI Worldwide.

The bank unit of Cabela's Inc., an outdoors merchandiser, has renewed a credit card processing agreement with the Atlanta payments company First Data Corp.

Univision Communications Inc. believes a new media campaign to promote surcharge-free ATM access for holders of its MasterCard-branded prepaid cards will increase card use within the U.S. Hispanic community.

Visa Inc. is furthering its e-commerce strategy by buying a payment platform for online games.

Visa Inc. no longer will require merchants outside the U.S. to annually validate their compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard if three-fourths of their transactions comply with the EMV chip-and-PIN standard, the network announced Feb. 9.

Warning lawmakers that the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rules likely would thwart national job growth, the American Bankers Association and 55 other state and community banking associations urged members of Congress in a Feb. 8 letter to “intervene immediately” to block the rule’s implementation.

Ukash, which sells prepaid vouchers to support online shopping, is expanding its Latin American presence with launches in Argentina and Brazi, the United Kingdom-based firm announced Feb. 9.

U.S. Bancorp’s Elavon Inc. merchant-processing unit has Class B-certified Hypercom Corp.’s SPOS32 EMV payment software on Hypercom’s T4200 and M4200 payment devices in Canada, the Phoenix-based terminal maker announced Feb. 9.

Payment-processing platform provider Aptys Solutions had added automated clearinghouse functionality to its PayLogics processing platform, the Rockwell, Texas-based company announced Feb. 9.

Visa Inc. is paying $190 million in cash to buy PlaySpan Inc., a private company that provides e-commerce services to developers of online games and smartphone applications, the card brand and network announced Feb. 9.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Pvt. bank has become the 10th bank in India to launch the Internet Mobile Payment Service in India, a spokesperson for the Karur-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Discover Financial Services is buying about $1.1 billion in deposits from the retail banking arm of insurer Allstate Corp., the Riverwoods, Ill., company said Tuesday.

Merchants using direct marketing services from Marketing Architects Inc. will be able to determine faster whether a consumer’s payment card is valid through a new authorization service the company is using from VeriFi Inc.

As the mobile-payments ecosystem continues to take shape, Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, is dipping its toe into the pool for the first time through a partnership with a Singapore-based trusted service manager for financial institutions, retailers, transit operators and mobile-service providers.