Cards

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.

Philippines-based e-commerce payment specialist Mozcom Inc. in August announced a partnership with Dragonpay Corp. enabling consumers who lack credit cards to pay for online purchases at its walk-in payment centers.

Australia’s government in August announced plans to fund a national financial-literacy course for students at its public chools that will teach the basics of money-management and how to evaluate credit card offers.

Two of Japan’s major contactless mass-transit payment card systems will become interoperable next year, significantly expanding the systems’ reach, Central Japan Railway Co. said on August 11.

Payment processor RBS WorldPay Inc. has class A certified Way Systems Inc.’s way5000 mobile point-of-sale device for use on its network.

Credit unions are expanding beyond Apple's iPhone to develop mobile banking applications for other devices, in particular those running the Google Android operating system.

Transaction Network Services Inc. said last week that it will supply gateway services for Continental Airlines Inc. to process payments for reservations made online.

Intuit Inc. says the payment services it sells as add-ons for QuickBooks customers are becoming the main attraction — and it says QuickBooks may eventually become the add-on.

In trying to boost participation in its debit rewards program and attract customers for its other products, Regions Financial Corp. took an approach that could help it cushion the potential loss of card revenue from new regulations.

New federal rules regulating fees and expiration dates for all gift cards went into effect Sunday, whether the cards are sold by a merchant, shopping center, credit union or bank.

Bank of America Corp. is collaborating with Visa Inc. and DeviceFidelity Inc. on a mobile-payment program to begin next month in New York enabling consumers’ smart phones to operate as contactless-payment devices, Visa confirms.

Apple Inc. increased speculation that it plans to develop an NFC-enabled iPhone with its hiring this month of mFoundry executive Benjamin Vigier, who has played a key role in developing mobile payment applications for PayPal Inc. and Starbucks Corp.

Mobile-marketing firm Mocapay Inc. this month announced a strategic partnership with payments processor eNational Payments with the goal of helping merchants to deliver customized coupons and other promotions to consumers via mobile handsets.

India’s improving economy is helping to drive higher overall payment card usage, with debit cards growing significantly faster than credit cards, new data from India’s central bank show.

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica ordered more than 13,000 Hypercom Corp. Optimum countertop and mobile payment terminals, which it plans to distribute to merchants throughout Costa Rica.

Credit card profits more than doubled for Target Corp. in its fiscal second quarter, helping to boost its overall earnings.