Credit

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded FICO eight new patents, including one for a new system of predicting, detecting and managing financial transaction device fraud using mass compromise analytics that could determine which cards banks should reissue after a data breach.

West Bengal is planning to distribute a new credit card designed to provide credit to the Indian state’s small and midsize enterprises.

Standard Chartered Bank India Pvt. Ltd. is adopting a more aggressive stancetoward the Indian credit card market thanks to positive changes in the market, a top bank official said on Sep. 19.

Woori Finance Holdings Co. Ltd. plans to spin off its credit card business into a new company to diversify and bolster its nonbanking services, the South Korea-based issuer announced Sept. 18.

Spending with Visa-branded credit cards in China last year rose 23.7%, to US$4.7 billion from US$3.8 billion in 2009, thanks to a growing number of international travelers visiting the country, Visa Inc.’s China Tourism Outlook report said.

Google Inc. has reached agreements with Visa Inc., American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services with the goal of eventually enabling other financial institutions to add their Near Field Communication-enabled payment card products to Google Wallet, the company announced Sept. 19.

Indian banks, which over the last year began targeting more-upscale credit card customers who spend more and tend to stay current on their accounts, are seeing gains in credit card spending volume despite having fewer cards in circulation.

With privacy concerns about its mobile phone location-based credit card fraud-detection technology in Europe resolved, ValidSoft Ltd. has set its sights on entering the U.S. market within the next few months, the company CEO says.

PHILADELPHIA — In his first speech since taking over for Elizabeth Warren as the public face of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Raj Date warned that the agency will take a firm stance when it identifies practices that are harmful for consumers.

As cuts in debit card interchange and changes in credit card regulations have threatened to reduce issuer-provided card rewards, some merchants have responded by working with issuers to bolster their rewards programs. In doing so, those retailers receive a direct line to card-spending consumers and give financial institutions a way to cover their card-rewards costs.

Absa Bank Ltd has suspended all credit card transactions for its cardholders through a bill payment website in South Africa after repeated complaints of credit card fraud.

Two banks in India are reported to be duelling for the credit card business of Barclays India Pvt Ltd, the Indian-subsidiary of the British bank that has been ailing in India.

A California credit union has teamed up with an organization that promotes local shopping to offer a triple-rewards Visa card, PaymentsSource has learned. Los Angeles Federal Credit Union has formed a partnership with ShopLA City to launch a new Visa card that aims to boost sales at Los Angeles merchants by offering triple rewards points on any purchases made within the city.

A global payments report issued Sept. 15 by Capgemini and the Royal Bank of Scotland strikes a positive note: the use of e-payments is rising, while use of old-school checks and cash is fading.

Visa Inc. and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce have extended by three years their partnership that provides Hispanic-owned merchants with customized access to Visa’s suite of small business products, according to a Sept. 14 Visa announcement.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is launching its Single-Use Accounts commercial card product in Canada, the company announced Sept. 12. The bank has offered single-use cards in the U.S. since 2004 and in recent years also in Europe.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu in mid-September plans to test the use of biometric smart cards to help disburse pensions in an effort to prevent corruption in the process of delivering cash payments to recipients.

TD Retail Card Services will issue and administer a new private-label credit card for Elkhart, Ind.-based Forest River Inc., a manufacturer of recreational vehicles and cargo trailers.

Fraudsters are increasingly using alternative payment methods to make bogus transactions, in many cases moving away from debit cards and checks, merchants report.

Demand from buyers of credit card portfolios owned by U.S. credit unions warmed somewhat during the first half of 2011 after hitting bottom last year, according to a Sept. 13 report from TRK Advisors.