Credit

Some merchants are already crying foul over a proposed $6 billion swipe-fee settlement, threatening the payments industry's attempts to move past long-pending litigation.

Visa, MasterCard and the largest banks have announced a proposed multi-billion dollar settlement with U.S. retailers in a longstanding lawsuit over swipe fees charged by the networks.

Regions Financial Corp. has unveiled a new line of Visa credit cards following the purchase of its card portfolio from Bank of America Corp.’s FIA Card Services unit last summer.

Merchants and card issuers weighing the cost of investing in Near Field Communication technology have a lot riding on the success or failure of the Isis mobile-payments test set to launch soon.

A lower reduction in the allowance for loan losses compared with the same period last year helped to drive down the second-quarter profit for the Card Services and Auto (Card) unit at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the issuer reported July 13.

Rewards have become as vital as ever in recruiting and keeping cardholders. But that could become problematic if issuers are forced to cut rewards programs to offset costs.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania commuters now may use American Express Co.’s ExpressPay contactless cards to pay for rides on the Port Authority Transit Corp. Speedline rapid-transit system or to park in terminal garages.

JCB International do Brasil Representacão Comercial Ltda. began operations in São Paulo, Brazil, on July 1, JCB International Co. Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of Japan-based JCB, announced July 11.

Empresas Hites SA fell, with volume more than four times the three-month average, after Chile’s bank regulator said the government will proceed with a plan to increase supervision of department-store credit cards.

Consumer credit climbed more than forecast in May, led by the biggest jump in credit card debt in almost five years that may signal Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

The tom-toms are beating louder for action among issuers, merchants and processors in the U.S. migration to EMV smart card technology.

At first, Google seemed to have all of the necessary ingredients for a mobile wallet and Isis had the uphill climb of convincing banks to agree to a system designed by a group of telcos. Isis now has several top banks firmly behind it, but it faces many challenges as well.

For years, the payments industry has been waiting for Apple to disrupt the market with a payment-capable iPhone. Some are finally getting sick of the wait.

Consumers may not be pushing for stronger card security because they feel overly protected by the systems in use today. But they do face real costs for fraud.

Visa and MasterCard, the biggest payment networks, are prepared to settle a seven-year lawsuit brought by retailers to cut their credit-card costs later this month, three people briefed on the talks said.

Despite warnings from a few years ago that issuers would react to new regulations with higher annual card fees, most did not.

Retailing giant Wal-Mart may be pulling American Express prepaid cards from its shelves due to poor sales, according to an analyst report from Jefferies & Co.

Private-label credit card portfolios haven't looked so healthy in years, at least in terms of credit quality.

Global Payments is offering Planet Payment's Pay in Your Currency technology to merchants in Canada. Global Payments plans to offer a similar service in the U.S. later this summer.

"A burglar cannot rob 300 homes in one night, but a cybercriminal can attack 300 mobile devices at a time," said Dr. Markus Jakobsson, principal scientist, consumer security at PayPal.