Credit

Cardholders in Oman soon may be receiving EMV chip-and-PIN debit and credit cards to replace their magnetic stripe cards under a proposal from the country’s central bank.

Bank of Ayudhya Ltd. is looking to capture a much greater share of the Thai credit card market following its recent acquisition of HSBC’s Thailand operations.

Bankers might still be waiting for Discover Financial Services to mount a credible challenge to meganetworks Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide, but the smaller credit card company has been frying other fish in the meantime.

Credit unions and community banks served by The Members Group now have access to a fraud-prevention tool that adds flexibility for them and a more hassle-free experience for their cardholders.

The chief executive of Discover Financial Services is facing new regulatory challenges and has struggled to grow the network business. But he says his efforts to be “almost as good as MasterCard and Visa” seem to be working.

A federal judge Wilmington, Del., has agreed to separate patent-infringement claims against a group of technology vendors and credit unions regarding a patent for card-customization technology and send them to different courts, creating three different venues for patent holder Serverside Group to pursue its claims.

Americans across the country continue to slash away at their credit card debt, but a return to card borrowing may be around the corner.

Alliance Data Systems Corp. has renewed an agreement to provide private-label credit card services to clothing retailer The Buckle Inc.

To calm consumer fears about having card-account numbers stolen wirelessly, the University of Pittsburgh has developed a way to switch contactless cards off automatically when they are not in use.

NEW YORK–Litigation over controversial credit card interchange fees is likely to end in a settlement in favor of merchants, but members of the industry are still debating the size and conditions of the pact, according to a viewpoint consensus from a panel discussion this week.

American Express Co. is dangling another lure to hook its small-business cardholders on social media as a promotional channel: $100 worth of Twitter advertising.

Two private equity investors have agreed to buy TransUnion Corp.

Ongoing economic turmoil in Europe has hit the card networks unevenly so far.

WASHINGTON–With its nonbank supervision program finally under way, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to bring debt collectors and consumer reporting firms under its oversight umbrella.

NEW YORK–Discover Financial Services, which is facing a government probe over its marketing of credit card insurance-like products, believes its relatively new practices will appease regulators, a top executive said here Feb. 16 at a Keefe, Bruyette & Woods conference on cards, payments and financial technology.

Banks in Malaysia have begun raising annual interest rates on their credit cards, something that has received partial favor even from the country’s deputy finance minister.

Betting on simplicity over razzle-dazzle digital-wallet features, Buck Inc. is making headway with a mobile e-commerce payment technology it claims goes a long way toward accomplishing what many mobile wallets aim to do.

For two years, Bill Johnson and his team at the retail partner cards division of Citigroup worked under a cloud of uncertainty. First came months of worry over how their parent would survive the financial crisis. Then, after a restructuring relegated the group to orphan status–it got shoved, together with the firm's other unwanted or distressed assets, into a new entity called Citi Holdings–it was time to worry about their own survival.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union has introduced another rewards credit card, the PenFed Platinum Rewards Card.

It took decades for American Express Co. to break into certain regions of Russia with basic credit cards, but just a few years after their introduction Amex is adding commercial and business cards to the mix.