Credit

Citigroup Inc. reported a rise in income from its Citi-branded and private-label credit card operations during the third quarter ended Sept. 30, driven largely by lower losses as fewer cardholders defaulted on accounts due to tighter underwriting policies and the improving economy.

Banks involved in the creation of a Single Euro Payment Area in Europe must view it as an opportunity to rebuild a payments system from scratch instead of as an overly complex challenge in which applying new standards to an old system will suffice, a new report by Boston-based research firm Celent asserts.

International Payments Solutions (Shanghai) Ltd and the Bank of China Ltd are collaborating with China-based Golden Holiday Travel Network on a promotion with incentives designed to increase the number of Chinese travelers who book tour packages online.

Marketing analysts who say mobile access is the future of loyalty programs with retailers and restaurants are closely watching to see how consumers respond to new mobile apps linking card purchases to rewards credits.

Two Shanghai city business-development organizations are attempting to further push online shopping during the Chinese festival season in collaboration with third party online payment provider International Payments Solutions (Shanghai) Ltd.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s consumer credit card unit reported net income of $849 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down 8.3% from $926 million a year earlier, as fewer consumers opened new accounts and the percentage of consumers revolving a balance declined. The unit results, for the first time, included auto and student lending, the company said.

U.S. Bank’s launch of a mobile credit card application for iPhones could improve customer service for retail audiences, market observers say.

CHICAGO—Consumers will decide which mobile wallets they want to use and that is why financial institutions should participate in as many as possible, a Citigroup Inc. executive on Oct. 12 told attendees here at the BAI Retail Delivery conference.

With e-commerce becoming a bigger target for payment data theft, Global Payments Inc. intends to provide its online merchants with another set of fraud-detection tools.

PayPal Inc. is putting itself at nearly every possible point of a consumer's banking relationship – from account-opening to payments and even reward-redemption – through a series of new partnerships.

Capital One Financial Corp. is preparing to relaunch its small-business credit card under the new Spark Business brand, while adding enhancements to existing products and incentives for new customers, PaymentsSource has learned.

Seeking to become a dominant player in the growing school-meals payments arena, a Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. unit has announced the purchase of School-Link Technologies Inc., its fourth such acquisition in the last 10 months.

Indian credit cardholders in August spent 80.8 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion or 1.2 billion euros), up 29% from 62.6 billion rupees during the same month last year, according to new data from the Reserve Bank of India.

Despite sluggish economic growth and worrisome unemployment rates, certain indicators on the eve of payment card issuers releasing third-quarter results suggest credit and debit card purchase volumes remained relatively healthy through September, according to two new reports from New York-based equity firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

U.S. Bancorp said Tuesday that it has launched a new iPhone app that lets its retail partners offer instant credit to their customers.

No matter how rewarding a credit card is, redeeming points can often be a hassle involving complex math and mailed vouchers – except at Amazon.com, where a growing number of issuers let users spend rewards points as easily as cash.

Participants in a large international credit card-skimming ring allegedly stole credit card data from thousands of U.S. and European consumers over a 16-month period, resulting in at least $13 million in losses, the Queens, N.Y. district attorney’s office announced Oct. 7.

JPMorgan Chase & Co’s Sapphire credit card will be a presenting sponsor of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for the second year in a row with a few new twists, a move one analyst says may bring the affluent-targeted card brand closer to its core audience.

Thailand’s government recently said it has scuttled plans to issue credit cards to farmers, which was part of an electoral promise its ruling party made earlier this year.

In a move that MasterCard Worldwide says is helping to pave the way for contactless mobile payments in the U.S., the card company on Oct. 7 announced that 7,000 Subway restaurants will accept PayPass by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Subway follows McDonald’s Corp., which began taking PayPass in 2004 at its U.S. locations.