Cards

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. on May 6 introduced three interchange-related amendments to the Senate’s financial-reform bill, prompting swift criticism from the payments industry.

Diebold Inc. and NCR Corp. had good news for investors when the companies recently delivered their first-quarter earnings. Executives of the two ATM manufacturers told analysts smaller financial institutions were starting to take an interest in machines that accept envelope-free deposits.

Monett, Mo.-based Jack Henry & Associates announced this morning it has agreed to acquire iPay Technologies, the largest independent electronic bill pay provider in the U.S., from venture firms Spectrum Equity Investors and Bain Capital Ventures, for $300 million in cash.

ACH Federal, which offers Web-based electronic-payment processing services to community banks and small businesses, recently reported record growth in customer acquisition and in transactions it processes over the automated clearinghouse network.

Global Payments Inc. is offering merchants in five new Asian countries the ability to accept China UnionPay cards.

Thirty European banks, including Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA, reportedly are are pushing ahead with plans to create a debit card system in Europe that will challenge Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc.

An increase in data breaches and online fraud has security vendors betting that banks will embrace systems that use text messages, voice biometrics or secure browsers to better authenticate people and transactions.

Visa Inc. may soon test a system for making contactless payments with an Apple Inc. iPhone using a case with a chip in it, according to reports.

Chantilly, Va.-based Online Resources Corp. Wednesday reported a first quarter loss of $200,000, down from a $1.6 million loss for the same quarter last year.

Hypercom Corp. in the coming weeks will announce the first point-of-sale terminal produced under the company’s “joint development manufacturing model.” It plans to make the terminal available for sale later this summer, a spokesperson tells PaymentsSource.

First-quarter growth in transaction-processing volume and same-store sales reflect strengthening business conditions and contributed to improved quarterly earnings for Heartland Payment Systems Inc., the company announced May 6.

Some 64 pay stations deployed at four major parking lots at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport now accept PayPass contactless payments, MasterCard Worldwide announced on May 5. McCarran is North America’s seventh-busiest airport. The parking lot pay stations also accept other contactless payment brands, including Visa Inc.’s payWave.

The Reserve Bank of India has made it simpler for urban cooperative banks to deploy offsite ATMs. Banks with relatively few bad loans, three continuous years of profit and industry professionals on their boards would not require central bank approval to deploy the machines, a central bank official tells PaymentsSource.

Customers of Kenya Commercial Bank Group in Rwanda now may access their accounts using ATMs the institution is deploying in that country, an official from the Nairobi-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Travelex Group, a London-based distributor of foreign-currency reloadable prepaid cards that offer consumers a locked in foreign-exchange rate, has added a text-message alert service to notify cardholders when account funds drop below 100 pounds (US$149 or 117 euros).

Swacha Services Corp. has signed an agreement with the Shazam electronic funds transfer network enabling it to offer Shazam’s member community banks and credit unions an automated clearinghouse payment-origination service, the Dallas-based for-profit subsidiary of the Swacha regional payments association announced late last month.

MasterCard Worldwide has promoted Ajay Banga, president and chief operating officer, to chief executive officer, effective July 1. Banga also was named a member of MasterCard’s board of directors. Banga succeeds Joseph W. Selander, who will become executive vice chairman until his retirement on Dec. 31. MasterCard also promoted Alfredo Gangotena to chief marketing officer from global products and solution lead for MasterCard in Europe. Gangotena replaces Lawrence Flanagan, who is retiring.

Nearly 30 years after the department store chain set out to become "the largest financial services entity," as its then-chairman put it, Sears is once again challenging banks.

The passage this week of a Vermont bill to let merchants set minimum amounts for card payments (see story) has refocused retailer groups' attention on similar federal proposals.

A National Credit Union Administration special assessment to federally chartered credit unions is prompting some of those institutions to encourage members to get cash back at the point of sale instead of withdrawing funds from ATMs so they earn revenue from the transactions.