Cards

U.S. Bancorp may reduce or eliminate debit card reward programs and offset actions in its acquiring business in response to financial reforms that likely will reduce debit card interchange revenues, Andrew Cecere, vice chairman and chief financial officer, told analysts July 21 during a conference call to discuss second-quarter earnings.

The government of Oman has taken further steps to enhance access to its e-Governance initiative designed to promote cashless transactions countrywide.

GSM Kazakhstan, also known as Kcell, has become the first mobile operator in Kazakhstan to offer its customers an online system to top up their prepaid mobile-phone accounts, the company announced in a July 20 statement.

WASHINGTON — President Obama signed into law Wednesday a sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial services system in a widely attended ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.

Advanced touch screen ATMs are getting a major boost in Spain via a BBVA pilot, while thousands of UK machines are now open to German users of the interbank girocard (a network that binds all German ATMs).

Mirroring what previously was known about debit card rewards, consumer website Bankrate.com has found through its own recent research that the majority of programs require a signature-based transaction to receive an incentive. How that changes after the Federal Reserve Board sets debit card interchange rates remains to be seen, and the survey data could serve as a benchmark, Bankrate.com says.

Merchants that struggle to pay for breach-related costs may find some help from their merchant acquirers.

Despite predictions of a “cashless society” eventually emerging, cash will remain the primary payment method by volume for retail payments for the foreseeable future throughout the world. As such, banks should maintain or expand their ATM channels, with a strong focus on efficiency, one technology analyst contends.

Al khaliji Commercial Bank Ltd. today struck a deal with the Qatar Fuel Co. to deploy the bank’s ATMs at four of the petrol retailer’s outlets, according to the Qatar-based bank.

Kasikornbank Ltd. plans to embark on a Near-Field Communication payments trial in Thailand this month, an official from the Bangkok-based bank confirms to PaymentsSource.

Mopay Inc., a Germany-based mobile-payments company, has rolled out a service that enables online merchants to bill purchases on a consumer’s landline phone bill account.

Sterling Savings Bank has reached a deal to implement core banking software from Fidelity National Information Services Inc.

A payments security startup is trying to minimize compliance headaches for small online retailers through cloning — of webpages, that is.

One hundred fifty credit unions have agreed to offer members a mobile banking service based on software from Fiserv Inc., including 84 that are already using it.

President Obama is expected to sign the financial reform bill on Wednesday, according to lobbyists and sources on Capitol Hill.

President Obama is widely expected to sign the banking reform act that Congress approved July 15, but practical considerations in implementing the legislation’s debit card interchange provisions could wipe out the protection lawmakers established for smaller institutions, concludes a report banking research firm Celent LLC released this month.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act legislation, most of which went into effect in February, will cost Citigroup Inc. $400 million to $600 million in pretax revenue this year, John Gerspach, Citi chief financial officer, told analysts July 16 during a conference call to discuss second-quarter earnings.

Aptys Solutions LLC last week introduced Active Archive, a platform that enables financial institutions to manage all saved payments data in a single location. Active Archive supports automated clearinghouse transactions, mobile payments, wire funds transfers and check-image exchanges.

Sage Payment Solutions, a merchant-services company with more than 155,000 merchants, has renewed its processing deal with TSYS Acquiring Solutions, a unit of Total System Services Inc., a Columbus, Ga.-based payment processor, TSYS announced July 19.

Merchants unsure about which type of merchant account would be cheaper have another tool to use when deciding between a traditional merchant account, a Square Inc. mobile account and an online PayPal account.