Cards

A United Kingdom-based smart card software company has launched Branch in a Box, a proprietary chip card service designed to encourage local spending in the UK and to enable consumers to organize their finances through their credit unions.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. on Thursday named Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC as one of its preferred merchant processors for users of its mobile phone card reader.

Transaction Network Services Inc. and Blue Bamboo have entered into an agreement that enables independent sales organizations, acquirers and processors to sell a mobile-payment system, according to the companies.

Sun Country Airlines’ customers now may book their flights online and pay for them using Acculynk Inc.’s PaySecure method, both companies announced March 31. PaySecure enables cardholders to make payments online using PIN-debit cards.

State Bank of India has begun allowing the bank’s debit cardholders to buy mutual funds online from the State Bank of India Mutual Fund, an official from the Mumbai-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Erste Bank Hungary plans to conduct a pilot during which customers may pay utility bills using ATMs, the Budapest-based bank announced April 1.

NCR Corp. March 30 rolled out its first fully weatherized ATM banks and independent sales organizations may deploy temporarily at street festivals and sporting events for promotional purposes and to capture additional surcharge revenue.

The head of Australia’s dominant taxi-payments system is defending a 10% surcharge it levies on payment card payments, local media report.

Cardtronics Inc. plans to sell 7 million shares of common stock for $12 per share, the ATM independent sales organization announced March 31.

PayPal users in Japan as of March 31 no longer may send noncommercial transactions to individuals until the further notice, PayPal announced in a statement.

Global Payments Inc. has named Jeffrey S. Sloan, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs & Co., as the Atlanta-based payment processor’s new president.

Blind and visually impaired Bank of America Corp. customers now have full access to the Charlotte, N.C.-based financial institution’s ATM network. The bank announced March 31 it has completed the installation of voice-enabled technology on the bank’s 18,262 machines, a process that took a decade to complete.

Residents of the Indian city of Ahmedabad soon will be able to use contactless smart cards to pay their fares in the city’s bus and rapid-transit system, an official from the local transport authority Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd. tells PaymentsSource.

Citibank wants to surpass National Australia Bank’s position as that country’s fourth-largest credit card issuer based on cards issued, according to a bank official.

Most U.S. consumers cite cash as their preferred form of payment despite increasing adoption of debit cards and other electronic modes, according to a report released last week by the Rockville, Md., consumer research firm Packaged Facts.

Visa Inc. has promoted Elizabeth Buse to group executive, international from global head of product. Jim McCarthy, previously senior sales executive for North America, succeeds Buse. Rupert Keeley, previously group president for several international regions, is leaving the company.

Speakers at a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed transaction-reporting requirements that take effect next January largely focused on the potentially detrimental effects their companies may experience from a foreign-merchant rule contained within the law, according to comments from the hearing.

The board of directors of HomeATM ePayment Solutions on March 30 named Mitchell Cobrin president and CEO, replacing Kenneth G. Mages, who left the Chicago-based company to pursue other interests.

Ukash, a London-based firm that sells prepaid cash vouchers, has signed a deal with Transact Network Ltd. to issue a “virtual” prepaid MasterCard for Ukash customers in two countries, PaymentsSource has learned.

As many as 100,000 contactless key fobs could be in use this year in a new transit scheme launched in Rio de Janiero, according to Inside Contactless, a France-based contactless-technology firm.