Credit

Payment innovation quickened its pace from technology to strategic partnerships last year, setting the stage for some dominant trends in 2012.

QNB Ltd., formerly known as Qatar National Bank, has launched a promotional campaign to garner more holders of a credit card it cobrands with mobile operator Qtel Ltd., the card issuer announced Dec. 27.

Shifting business-to-business payments from paper invoices to commercial cards streamlines certain processes, but many companies still cling to time-sapping policies requiring managers to check each transaction manually looking for mistakes and abuse.

Citigroup Inc.'s new Facebook application moves the ball forward for banks that want to combine social media with banking activity, but it also raises concerns about privacy and security of consumer data.

Justice Department lawyers say a former government informant convicted of hacking into TJX and more than a dozen other leading retailers was never authorized by the U.S. Secret Service, which was employing him as an undercover informant, to steal data on more than 150 million credit card accounts.

Consumers might be warming up a bit to using credit cards again after overindulging in card use during the recession, a new poll suggests.

The economy may be crawling back to normal in some sectors, but credit card industry revenue continues to fall, according to one longtime observer.

South Korean credit cardholders face a use-it-or-lose-it proposition under a proposal designed to scale back the country’s debt problems.

Credit card issuers failing to promote recurring-payments options appear to be missing a significant opportunity to establish a fixed source of revenue and a means to reduce charge-offs.

Which has their heads in the clouds? Merchants and consumers who fear a lack of data security in a cloud-based payment system? Or the vendors selling the systems that assure they are safer than centralized security platforms?

China UnionPay is expanding where holders of its branded cards may shop to include more than 8 million online merchants based overseas, the card network announced Dec. 27.

Impending service slowdowns at the U.S. Post Service could provide a boost to bankers.

As banks look for ways to get revenue from free services like bill pay, they risk becoming a target of public outcry, as Verizon Wireless did over its planned $2 fee for certain bill payments.

The recent discovery of payment-terminal tampering at 24 outlets of California’s Lucky Supermarkets chain is raising fresh questions about the possible role of insiders in such highly coordinated crimes.

In a trend that gained strength the past year, payments and fraud-protection software and hardware providers continue to view Latin America as a land of opportunity.

A court in the United Arab Emirates has passed a landmark card-fraud judgment, laying the legal ground rules for the responsibilities of all involved parties, including card issuers, cardholders and merchants.

With all eyes on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as a potential disruptive force in the banking world, some might overlook major recent innovations coming out of the No. 2 retailer, Target Corp.

South Korea plans to govern credit card issuance more strictly by enforcing a new set of applicant requirements, the country’s two top financial watchdogs–the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service–announced Dec. 26.

Verizon Wireless plans next month to impose a $2 fee for every payment subscribers make over the phone or online with their credit cards, the telecommunication company announced Dec. 30.

The wild gyrations in credit card charge-off rates of the last two years is finally subsiding, providing more certainty for bankcard issuers planning their loan-loss contingency funds for 2012.