Cards

Rev Worldwide, a prepaid card marketer serving underserved markets in India, Romania, Kosovo, Australia and Mexico, this year plans to establish North American operations. The Austin, Texas-based company says it plans to develop, operate and market integrated prepaid card and mobile-payments initiatives for North American financial institutions, telecommunication firms and merchants.

Mumbai passengers on the western line of the Indian city’s suburban railway network now may use the Mumbai Go contactless smart card for fare payments. The agency officially made the service available at midnight March 10, completing the implementation of smart card acceptance across the city’s public transport facilities, an official from the railway operator tells PaymentsSource.

Visa Inc. said Thursday that payments volume on its U.S. cards picked up 12% in February from a year earlier, driven by a surge in debit use.

First Data Corp. executives say the company has no plans for an initial public offering — but its choice of a chief executive seems to say otherwise.

A mobile payments business model Citigroup Inc. tested in India has proven a hit among all the key players, even wireless carriers.

While the total funds loaded into U.S. open-loop prepaid debit card accounts could reach $186 billion in 2014, uncertainty over future government regulations that may affect the industry could hamper sustained market growth, according to a report from Aite Group LLC.

Michael Capellas, chairman and CEO of First Data Corp., is leaving the Atlanta-based payment processor to work as a senior advisor at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the investment group that bought the transaction processor in 2007.

Visa Inc. is looking outside the U.S. for growth and hopes to derive more than half of its revenues from international markets within the next five years, executives from the card company today told investors gathered in San Francisco for its annual Investor Day presentation.

Tio Networks, which today announced the planned launch of a mobile bill-payment platform, estimates it will generate 20% of its revenue from the service by 2011, according to the Burnaby, British Columbia-based expedited bill-payment processor.

Target Corp. has begun delivering coupons to customers' mobile phones.

Nautilus Hyosung Inc. has named Charles Jung Sr., a former IBM Corp. executive, as president and CEO of Nautilus Hyosung America Inc., the ATM maker’s U.S.-based subsidiary. Jung replaces Chan Park, who returned to the parent’s world headquarters in Seoul, South Korean.

China Mobile plans to purchase a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank for 39.8 billion yuan (US$5.7 billion or 4.2 billion euros) as part of its plans to develop a mobile-payment system in the country, China Mobile announced on March 10.

One of the world’s largest trials of Near Field Communication payments, which Citigroup Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide launched last year in India, provided a glimpse into the challenges of incorporating merchant-sponsored product discounts and coupons within mobile payments.

Bank of America Corp.’s announcement today that it plans to eliminate overdraft fees on debit card purchases is a clear effort to make right with consumers–and no doubt regulators–whose angst against big banks has reached a fever pitch in recent months, analysts say.

United-Kingdom-based Barclays Group PLC this week continued its goal to bring contactless technology to the region’s masses as it began issuing commercial contactless debit cards to business customers.

NFinanSe Inc. today cut ATM-withdrawal and bill-payment fees to promote better cardholder trials and greater cardholder retention. The Tampa, Fla.-based prepaid card marketer offers Visa- and Discover-branded reloadable cards issued by Palm Desert (Calif.) National Bank.

The South Korean Fair Trade Commission is urging card companies in that country to allow their cardholders to earn reward points on purchases made overseas, according to a statement issued by the antitrust group.

WorldNet, an Ireland-based online payment gateway, says its virtual payment-terminal application released this week for Apple Inc.’s iPhone is the company’s first, and it plans to add chip-and-PIN capability to the software in later versions.

Under a contingency plan announced March 9, Thailand’s commercial banks may immediately halt ATM services in risk-prone areas. They also may halt branch operations in case of emergency, without prior consent from the central bank, the Bank of Thailand announced in a statement.

Bank of America Corp. reportedly plans to announce Wednesday that it is eliminating $35 overdraft fees on debit card purchases as the bank tries to stay ahead of a sweeping round of regulations.