Credit

Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal will replace advertising on some shows next week with content paid for by American Express Co., another sign of how programmers are testing new strategies as consumers become less tolerant of 30-second commercials.

There is a different feel to the troubles American Express faces today, mainly because its lost Costco relationship represented what might be one of the last of its kind — a deal in which a large retailer gives exclusivity to a certain card brand and tells customers how to pay.

ExxonMobil has expanded the rewards program on its store-branded credit cards, to provide a larger discount on fuel sales.

The digitizing of payment transactions has become important enough at Visa and MasterCard to remain a top investment priority, even as the networks brace for the economic fallout of collapsing oil prices and volatile stock markets.

MasterCard Inc., the second-largest U.S. payments network, said fourth-quarter profit rose 11 percent as consumer card spending climbed.

Splitit has expanded its interest-free installment payments technology to health care providers, enabling their patients to receive instant approval to finance health care costs through their Visa or MasterCard credit cards on file.

Discover Financial Services reported a slowdown in growth in its credit card business but vowed to take steps to reverse the trend.

Capital One Financial's fourth-quarter profit fell short of projections as the McLean, Va., company boosted its reserves in anticipation of higher loan losses.

Visa has nabbed an executive from media company Time Inc. to be its chief marketing and communications officer.

Discover says it will help consumers seeking to establish or rebuild a credit score by expanding the availability of its Discover It Secured Credit Card, which offers the cash-back rewards and security measures of its mainstream cards.