Cards

In 2009, banks and credit unions reported 41,548 suspicious activities related to card fraud, representing a 4.6% jump from 39,711 reports the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which maintains data on suspicious activity reports.

One or more thieves used a stolen excavator to tear an ATM out of the front of a Baxter Credit Union branch in Iluka, Ill. last week and load it on to a stolen truck.

PIN-debit payments initiated online slowly, but steadily, are gaining traction in the marketplace as several companies have introduced products intended to bring more security to online transactions.

With sponsorship from Citigroup Inc., Billing Revolution Inc. is trying to help convert people who window-shop on their mobile phones into paying customers.

Electronic Payment Systems LLC, a Denver-based independent sales organization, says a federal judge has ruled that it owns a toll-free number now used by approximately 515,000 merchants processing with TSYS Acquiring Solutions.

Starbucks Corp. now includes PayPal Inc.’s payment system as a funding method for its mobile payment application.

Blackboard Inc. and PE Systems LLC have formed a partnership to help colleges and universities seeks ways to reduce their costs to accept credit and debit card payments, Washington, D.C.-based Blackboard announced Nov. 15.

Card skimming at ATMs in Europe is on the rise as new devices to fraudulently capture cardholder data have emerged in some countries, according to a report from the European ATM Security Team.

Several cases of credit card fraud in the United Arab Emirates have resulted in losses of more than 200,000 dirham (US$54,443 or 39,000 euros), a top police official in the country told a local newspaper recently.

The Federal Reserve's forthcoming regulations on debit interchange may settle a long-running debate over whether fraud costs and risks are high enough to justify banks' current fees.

Less than one-fourth of consumers have signed up for debit card overdraft coverage from banks, and 70% say they want to continue to exercise choice in their debit-overdraft options, suggest the results of a survey Consumer Reports publisher Consumers Union released Nov. 16.

Scotiabank and the Royal Bank of Canada will be the first Canadian banks to issue the Interac Association’s new contactless EMV chip-and-PIN cards, Interac announced Nov. 16.

Weiss & Lurie says it is examining the proposed sale of Hypercom Corp. to VeriFone Systems Inc. for legal issues. The New York-based firm says it is looking at “possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by members of the board of directors of Hypercom.”

Global Payments Inc. on Nov. 18 announced a joint venture with Spain-based bank La Caixa, adding access to more than 150,000 merchants in Spain for the Atlanta-based payment processor.

Chinese banks will replace magnetic stripe cards with smart cards by 2015, according to an official from China UnionPay.

Intrust Bank will use credit card processing, loyalty, merchant processing and other services from Fidelity National Information Services Inc., the Jacksonville, Fla., technology vendor said Wednesday.

VeriFone Systems Inc. is getting a marketing boost for its iPhone payment card reader through a new partnership with the Atlanta processor Elavon.

The fight over debit card overdraft fees is not over, according to a consortium of consumer-advocacy groups that vows to keep the pressure on regulators to force significant changes in how banks handle such fees.

Through its acquisitions, VeriFone Systems Inc. soon could become the largest terminal maker in the world.

Near Field Communication will outlast other mobile-payment technologies such as microSD cards and two-dimensional barcodes, observers contacted by PaymentsSource generally agree.