Cards

Hypercom Corp. said Wednesday that it is bringing to the United States a version of its end-to-end encryption software that is currently available in Asia.

American Heritage FCU last week introduced technology it said combines the convenience of an ATM with a highly-personal two-way interaction.

First Data Corp. says it has come up with an answer to EMV chip-and-PIN technology. The processor’s Star electronic funds network on Aug. 25 introduced a debit card fraud-protection product that uses a contactless chip to produce a unique, one-time card number to complete point-of-sale transactions.

Various unregulated new mobile-payment services proliferating in the U.S. could be putting certain consumers at risk for fraud, Consumers Union, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy organization, announced Aug. 24.

VeriFone Systems Inc. beat Wall Street’s expectations for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31 based on strong North American sales and a rebounding Latin American market, and executives at the payment-terminal maker predict demand for wireless payment systems and gas-station terminals will help drive future earnings.

WePay Inc. continues to distinguish itself from other online-payment services by soliciting groups and organizations using social-networking sites. The company recently integrated with Facebook Events and Facebook Groups to enable groups to collect funds online through the social-networking website.

Bangladesh’s Southeast Bank Ltd., which recently launched a Visa-branded debit card called the SEBL My Card, has signed an ATM and point-of-sale network sharing agreement with Brac Bank Ltd.

American Eagle FCU has signed with Dynamic Card Solutions to use the company’s instant card issuance for unembossed Visa debit cards at the branch level.

PartnersFirst Affinity Services has agreed to use a custom card-production service from the processor Total System Services Inc.

After months of banks’ efforts to explain new opt-in policies for account-overdraft protection, 60% of consumers surveyed last month were aware of pending changes in debit card overdraft services on existing accounts mandated by new federal rules, according to new data from Mintel Comperemedia, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults online. That was up from 40% who were aware of the changes during a similar survey Mintel conducted two months earlier.

Companies that install or manage payment-application software, such as that used in integrated point-of-sale terminals, can best protect their information by following a list of best practices Visa Inc. issued today, the payments company contends.

The merchant-processing unit of Barclaycard UK in July experienced an almost double-digit increase in spending by its merchant clients’ credit and debit card customers in the United Kingdom compared with the same month last year, challenging the notion that consumer confidence has declined, Barclaycard announced recently.

China’s Union Mobile Pay service’s transaction sales volume exceeded 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion or 3.1 billion euros) in 2009, a spokesperson for the mobile payment service provider tells PaymentsSource.

Growth in automated clearing house transactions slowed in the second quarter, but the dollar value of those transactions increased slightly.

Mobile banking is gaining more popularity with the underbanked than it is with conventional bank customers.

After a brutal 21-hour legislative session ending in the early morning hours of June 25, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd thought regulatory reform was finally finished.

CommunityAmerica CU said yesterday it signed a five-year credit, signature/PIN debit, and ATM processing contract with PSCU Financial Services.

The Center for Financial Services Innovation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on financial services for underbanked consumers, will continue to operate as usual, despite the Aug. 20 failure of its affiliate bank, ShoreBank Corp.

Consumers’ increased use of smart phones to shop appears to be having an effect on how small businesses purchase. New survey data suggest that 27% of small companies use mobile devices to make purchases.

Many PCI compliance programs that independent sales organizations and acquirers offer their merchants are beginning to prove their value, says Deana Rich, president of Van Nuys, Calif.-based Rich Consulting.