Cards

Karnataka Bank has begun issuing a Visa-branded prepaid card designed for students, an official from the India-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

China Unicom will officially launch its Near Field Communication service later this year in Shanghai, confirms a Shanghai-based official from the nation's second-largest mobile network carrier.

Prepaid card companies are making it possible to have the benefits of a bank account without actually having a bank account.

OXFORD, Ohio – Miami University Community FCU has signed with Fifth Third Bancorp’s CMC to provide it with risk management support for its credit card program.

LAS VEGAS-The general consensus among attendees here at the Prepaid Card Expo is that the industry continues to grow, and consumers are becoming more comfortable using prepaid card products. But many also agree that, now that many prepaid products feature extras historically associated with credit and debit cards, the industry should do more to educate consumers, particularly the financially underserved, about the benefits the cards provide to achieve widespread adoption.

Two companies that support online payments are getting involved with Facebook Inc. to streamline micropayments for virtual goods users purchase on the popular social networking Web site.

MIAMI–Envelope-free ATMs have increased deposits more than JPMorgan Chase & Co. executives expected.

Many organizations, such as banks, local business associations, Web-site designers and software developers, refer their customers to independent sales organizations and acquirers for merchant-processing services. The ISO or acquirer then shares with those organizations a percentage of its processing revenue. Or it may provide the referring organization a one-time finder’s fee when the merchant begins processing transactions.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. is supplying 130,000 payment products to Russian bank Sberbank in a multimillion-dollar deal announced today, according to the San Jose, Calif.-based payment-terminal manufacturer. Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank.

Korean officials hope to enable consumers in that country to use their ATM cards when traveling to the United States and countries in Southeast Asia beginning next year, an official at the Bank of Korea confirms to PaymentsSource.

Two online payments companies have developed applications to facilitate purchases on Facebook Inc.'s popular social networking Web site.

SAGINAW, Mich. – Team One CU said yesterday it is now using Dynamic Card Solutions’ instant issue software and hardware and now issue unembossed Visa debit and credit cards at the branch level.

Canada’s Competition Bureau rejected Interac Association’s request for for-profit status because the country’s sole debit card network’s business has not yet been affected by the intentions of Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide to enter the country’s debit card market.

Merchant-portfolio sellers that harbored visions of selling their portfolios at 36 times their monthly residual revenue finally have acquiesced to buyers’ demand to pay less, say observers of the acquiring market. Residual revenue is the recurring transaction revenue acquirers collect from merchants.

Sales agents for independent sales organizations increasingly are seeking additional industry training to improve their abilities to better compete for scarce business during the difficult economy, observers note.

Some independent sales organizations are providing qualified leads to sales agents as incentives so they will work harder. The tactic tends to motivate the agents while enabling the ISO to spend less on incentives than they would through monetary bonuses, according to some observers.

MShift filed suit in federal court in San Francisco Friday claiming Digital Insight is infringing on its patent for the company’s pioneering mobile banking technology that Digital Insight is providing to hundreds of credit unions and banks.

Mopay Inc. has announced plans to expand its global presence. Under the initiative, the Germany-based mobile-payments company hopes to enable U.S. consumers to purchase virtual goods and other digital content using their mobile-phone accounts, the company notes in a recent press release. It also hopes to create a new revenue channel to U.S. gaming and social-network providers.

Visa Inc.’s announced hiring today of Bill Gajda, a top global wireless carrier trade association executive, to lead its mobile-payments initiatives could help the network brand cut through some of industry-sector obstacles blocking mobile-payment development, observers say. Gajda is chief commercial officer at the GSM Association, an international telecommunication organization that develops worldwide wireless standards for mobile communications, and after joining Visa he will continue as president of the GSM Foundation.

Interac Association’s top executive is optimistic further discussions with Canada’s Competition Bureau eventually will result in Interac changing its not-for-profit business model to a for-profit one to compete with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide in the country’s PIN-debit card market. The bureau rejected Interac’s request to change its business model on Feb. 12.