Cards

San Antonio-based Firstmark CU announced a deal yesterday to place its brand on three Cardtronics-owned and operated ATMs in Costco warehouses located in the San Antonio area.

Iowa Republican Charles Grassley announced yesterday he will change his vote on the bank reform bill and vote no this time, but the Democrats still appear to have the 60 votes they need to overcome a planned filibuster by the Republicans when the Senate moves for final passage, expected as early as today.

Bank of America Corp. is charging some customers to receive their monthly statement in the mail, the industry's most aggressive move yet to encourage paperless banking.

The Senate has passed legislation delaying the implementation of some of the provisions of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, potentially avoiding the destruction of millions of gift cards.

SoftBank Telecom Corp. on July 5 began offering the first cloud technology-based transaction-clearing service in Japan, according to the Tokyo-based technology company.

Over the past two years, Acculynk Inc. has worked to become the industry standard for PIN-debit transactions on the Internet with its PaySecure product.

Merchants do not need to retain a full 16-digit card number to resolve a transaction dispute, despite demands from some acquirers and processors, according to Visa Inc.

Businesses of all sizes are increasing their use electronic forms of payment to help improve their cash flow, the results of a recent Aberdeen Group study show.

Barclays Bank PLC on July 8 launched an updated version of an account offering designed to give university students more control over their finances by enabling them to select their own overdraft limits and receive alerts when funds are low.

With the votes lined up, the Senate is set to vote as early as Thursday on financial regulatory reform. It would then go to President Obama, who is expected to sign the sweeping bill into law soon.

Fremont, Calif.-based Patelco Credit Union has become the first financial institution in the U.S. to launch Mobile Popmoney, which will enable Patelco's members to send an electronic payment directly to another person via an e-mail or text message from their mobile phone.

Monitise PLC, a United Kingdom-based provider of mobile banking and payments services, on July 13 announced plans to raise £32.4 million (US$48.6 million or 38.7 million euros) through the sale of company shares and a subscription by Visa Inc. that will raise the card brand’s shareholding interest in the company to 14.4% from 12.6%.

Merchants may pay recurring bills using a portion of their payment card settlement funds through PayFast, a service Integrity Payment Systems LLC launched earlier this month.

MOL Global Bhd. has inked a deal with Facebook to enable Asian consumers to purchase virtual goods, such as online games and applications, using the U.S.-based social network, the Malaysia-based online-payments provider announced recently.

The final vote on the massive bank reform bill is expected as early as this week, and despite the fact it is almost guaranteed to contain the Durbin interchange amendment bitterly opposed by credit unions, the battle is not over.

The total value loaded annually into network-branded prepaid debit card accounts in the United States could reach $440 billion by 2017, predicts a Boston Consulting Group report commissioned by MasterCard Worldwide.

MasterCard Worldwide July 12 announced that Carlos Menendez is joining the company as group executive of global debit. He will assume the position Sept. 1.

Through an arrangement facilitated by the European alliance of debit card schemes known as EAPS, holders of girocard debit cards issued in Germany as of July 12 may access the 63,000 ATMs within the United Kingdom’s Link electronic funds transfer network.

Green Dot Corp.'s initial public offering will be a major milestone for the prepaid card market regardless of the company's ability to reach its recently disclosed price targets.

Social-networking website Facebook quickly is becoming the next playground for payment companies.