Cards

Newspaper publishers are recognizing consumers are using less cash and are making a move toward accepting plastic at vending machines.

Singapore American School has selected The CBord Group Inc.’s CS Gold one-card program to manage the school’s card program that also will meet the needs of Singapore’s contactless marketplace, the Ithaca-based company announced July 27.

The ramifications of a federal court's order for Wells Fargo & Co. to repay $203 million in overdraft fees (see story) extend far beyond the price tag one company has to pay for its California operations.

A unique merchant-funded cardholder rewards program just got a powerful new marketing channel — and, thanks to regulatory reform, a stronger pitch to make to banks.

KeyBank is offering customers text-based banking services through Fiserv Inc.'s Mobile Money program, the Brookfield, Wis., bank technology vendor said Wednesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. ramped up pressure Wednesday on the banking industry to curb overdraft fees, releasing proposed guidelines that would go beyond recent Federal Reserve Board rules.

Israel Postal Company Ltd. plans to launch Visa debit cards in the first quarter of 2011, adding to its existing banking operations, an official from Israel’s national postal service tells PaymentsSource.

Wells Fargo & Co. must pay more than $200 million in restitution to California banking customers for deliberately manipulating debit card transactions in order to trigger overdraft fees, a federal judge ruled on Aug. 10.

Though no independent industry data exist to support the notion that “virtual” gift cards are on the rise, internal research from prepaid companies suggests consumers more often are opting for the product’s convenience instead of plastic.

TechProcess Solutions Ltd. will provide online-payment services to customers of Standard Chartered Bank India under a deal the Mumbai-based company announced last week.

Thailand’s Bangkok Smartcard System Co. Ltd. has inked a partnership deal appointing Vix Erg Pty. Ltd. as a partner in the design and delivery of a smart card clearinghouse service for micropayments, the Australia-based technology vendor announced last week.

Mirroring the explosive growth of the prepaid debit card market, Green Dot Corp. had 3.4 million active cards as of March 31, doubling the 1.7 million it had a year earlier, PaymentsSource data show.

Apriva, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wireless-payments company, says it is working with MWJ LLC, an Atlanta-based vending-machine operator, on cashless vending services at 48 vending machines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Now that they can do so without violating contracts, merchants are expected to more aggressively steer customers toward less expensive payment methods in the coming months.

First Data Corp.’s formation of the Banc of America Merchant Services LLC alliance with Bank of America Corp. in June of last year is paying dividends for the transaction processor.

Despite brick-and-mortar merchants and restaurants still experiencing a year-over-year decrease in credit and signature-debit card sales, the decline is becoming more moderate, and is even increasing at high-end restaurants, as the economy continues to slowly recover, new research suggests.

Pivotal Payments says its integration with Pinnacle Cart, e-commerce software Desert Dog Marketing LLC designed for merchants to use on their websites, could help its sales agents increase their revenue by attracting more merchants.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corp. formally has cancelled the seven-year contract it had awarded Mumbai-based Kaizen Engineering Systems Pvt. Ltd. to provide a ticketing and smart card system for its bus and rapid-transit system.

First Data Corp. on Aug. 10 reported a net loss attributable to the company of $171.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30, down from the $195.9 million loss the transaction processor reported during the same period last year. Revenues totaled $2.61 billion, up 18.1% from $2.21 billion, driven by the formation of the Banc of America Merchant Services LLC alliance.

Mall Networks, a manager of merchant-funded rewards programs, reported Monday that its fiscal 2010 revenue grew by more than 100%, and announced its renaming as Cartera Commerce Inc.