Credit

Indonesia’s central bank has approved new regulations that will restrict credit card issuance to combat the country’s mounting card debt.

Crafting new credit card fees that consumers will swallow is likely to be the key to survival for the credit card industry.

Target Corp., which has tried for years to sell its credit card assets, is giving up for now, and it is spending more than $2.8 billion to divorce itself from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

U.S. Bancorp’s payments unit produced a strong fourth-quarter profit thanks to the temporary release of loan-loss reserves, but the decline in debit card interchange caused by new regulations is forcing a strategy shift.

Credit cards remain the preferred payment method for online purchases in the United Kingdom because of their payment protections and potential for users to earn reward points. But other payment methods continue to attract consumer interest as well.

As credit quality improves and purchase volumes slowly improve in most regions, Citigroup Inc.’s credit card operations gradually are regaining steam, although borrowing remains soft.

If financial-services companies have any reservations about being appointed the front-line enforcers for copyright protections under proposed anti-piracy legislation, now would be their time to strike.

The economy may not be booming, but new data show that personal bankruptcies in 2011 declined for the first time in four years, providing another positive sign for consumer credit card performance.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a strong pace for its credit card sales-volume growth during the fourth quarter that rivals may find difficult to match, but other factors caused the issuer’s net revenues and net income to decline.

A Jan. 10 Supreme Court ruling upheld the controversial practice of including mandatory-arbitration clauses in credit card contracts.

Narrower loan spreads and lower average loan balances, partially reversed by lower revenue reversals associated with a reduction in net charge-offs, helped drive fourth-quarter reductions in both net revenue and net income for the Card Services & Auto unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the issuer announced Jan. 13.

All of China’s bank-led payment platforms and third-party payment providers would have to ensure their customers use their real names when paying online under regulations the People’s Bank of China proposed Jan. 5.

The Indian government plans to expand the scope of its widely used Kisan credit card to enable farmers to use it also as a debit card linked to a separate account that earns interest, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture privy to the discussions tells PaymentsSource.

As European banks continue to establish standards for a Single Euro Payments Area, not nearly as much attention has focused on a similar process for ecommerce or mobile payments in the euro zone.

Credit card users have been unusually diligent in paying off their bills recently in the wake of the financial crisis. Their discipline slipped a bit late last year, however, which led revolving credit to post a surprise jump in November.

Fresh questions about credit card issuers’ mobile-payments strategies are likely to surface starting later this week as major card-issuing banks release their 2011 fourth-quarter earnings, beginning with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Jan. 13.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer card and other debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments.

The use of barcode readers as a transaction and marketing tool¬–a mobile-commerce method popularized by early movers such as Starbucks Inc.¬–is getting a shot in the arm from a new American Express Co. partnership.

Intel Corp. is using an authentication system from SecureKey Technologies Inc. in its Ultrabook computers.

It appears it might take at least a few more painful payment-terminal tampering breaches like those Lucky Supermarkets and Michaels Stores Inc. experienced last year before U.S. merchants and card issuers take action to support EMV chip cards.