Credit

India’s largest private credit card issuer ICICI Bank Ltd. has launched a credit card for its premium customers that includes two, separately branded cards linked to a single line of credit, the Mumbai-based bank announced Dec. 20.

Myriad payments companies this year created presence on such social media sites as Facebook and Twitter. But while it was important to roll with the times, the effort may not help to create long-term loyal customers.

The Thai government is providing credit cards to low-income taxi and passenger-van drivers affected by an increase in the price of the natural gas they use to fuel their vehicles.

Eastern Europe gets a bad rap when it comes to payment card data security, but the region does not experience considerably more hacking-attack incidents than do other parts of the world. But it is a main source of such incidents, an industry analyst contends.

New credit card account originations will increase in 2012, but both issuers and cardholders will be cautious, according to a forecast Moody’s Investors Service released Dec. 16.

A former Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive has joined edo Interactive Inc. as general manager to head its financial services team.

South Korean card networks have begun trimming cardholder benefits to offset the revenue reductions they will experience because of reduced merchant-transaction fees.

Prepaid debit cards that come with celebrity endorsements over the years have showed little staying power while whipping up storm clouds of controversy.

With no governing body regulating the payments industry in the United States, card data security for online service merchants can be an iffy proposition.

To encourage adoption of new security standards in the U.S., the most important tool is policy.

U.S. consumer credit card delinquency and charge-off rates are finally returning to traditional patterns after almost three years of recession-sparked aberrations, analysts at Moody’s Investors Service Inc. said Dec. 15.

It’s all in the name.

Banks supporting campus card programs linked to prepaid accounts believe their ties with college-age consumers are meeting the goal of building future loyal customers by giving them basic payment tools and a financial education they can carry on as their start their careers after graduating.

Despite a lagging economy, Discover Financial Services’ jack-of-all-trades strategy seems to be paying off.

Banks have been much maligned for nickel-and-diming their customers, but in another area–cardholder fraud protections–they are being praised as consumer champions.

Persuading consumers and merchants to shun the traditional way to pay and accept payment for goods and services using plastic remains Dwolla Corp.’s chief goal. But the company also is working to plug some holes in its service.

Anxious to see signs of growth after the recession’s chilling effect on borrowing, the credit card industry may be relieved to see Discover Financial Services reporting an uptick in credit card purchase volume for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Someday, such a thing as an alternative payment no longer may exist.

Private and public banks in India cancelled up to 50,000 credit cards they issued in September and October after local law-enforcement agencies discovered a widespread cloning scam.

Visa Inc. may be preparing to debut its ties to Google Inc.’s Google Wallet mobile-payments scheme in London at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, sources suggest.