Credit

Touting heavier consumer and commercial card-spending as the economy gradually improves, MasterCard Worldwide on Aug. 3 said its second-quarter purchase volume showed healthy increases in all worldwide regions, with its biggest gains in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Growth in payment-processing business in North America and continued success with its MasterCard corporate card program helped generate a 54.6% increase in second-quarter revenue for fleet card provider Wright Express Corp.

Increases in debit-network fees and favorable changes in foreign currency fueled a 5.4% increase in second-quarter revenue for First Data Corp., to $2.75 billion from $2.61 billion a year ago, the company reported Aug. 3.

Higher spending on its credit and debit cards boosted MasterCard Inc.’s second-quarter net revenue by 21.4% from a year earlier.

Payments technology vendor Fundtech Ltd.’s second-quarter revenue rose 16.4% from a year earlier to $40.5 million as it closed 130 new deals and added 14 new bank clients.

For a large international operation such as RBS' wholesale banking unit, drawing a mobile roadmap means scaling the knowledge curve posed by fast-developing new devices and technology to find the best match between innovation and client demand.

Account opening has long been an arduous process for banks and their customers alike, due to banks' procedures and regulatory requirements. But some banks, including Citi and Wells Fargo, are devoting resources to streamlining the onboarding process and making it mirror the experience of shopping at Amazon.com, Apple or Netflix.

In what it is calling a return to decades-old marketing tactics combined with new technology, credit-score giant FICO on Aug. 2 introduced a product designed to target credit card customer prospects more effectively in a sluggish market.

Uncertainty remains for clients of payments and banking software provider S1 Corp. despite its plan to stay the course on a proposed merger with Fundtech Ltd.

With 2.6 billion China UnionPay cardholders and 1.2 million Elavon Global Acquiring Solutions merchants worldwide, the math simply added up for an agreement that would enable Elavon merchants to accept UnionPay cards, an Elavon executive says.

A United Kingdom-based consumer-advocacy group once again is calling attention to card surcharges merchants add when consumers make credit and debit purchases online.

Barclaycard, the card-issuing unit of Barclays PLC, on Aug. 2 reported a £76 million (US$121.7 million) loss for the six months ended June 30, citing £600 million it set aside as a nonrecurring expense for customers reclaiming costs incurred for mis-sold payment-protection insurance. The unit of the London-based bank earned a £317 million profit during the same period last year.

A woman who sued a collection law firm for twice attempting to garnish her wages for a debt she did not owe was awarded $1.26 million, according to a ruling July 29 by a federal jury in New Mexico.

One of the most significant challenges to widespread adoption of Near Field Communication-enabled mobile payments has been determining how the card brands, issuers, mobile operators and handset manufacturers will divvy up transaction revenues.

To help distribute its Serve digital payment and wallet service, American Express Co. on Aug. 1 announced a deal in which Verizon Wireless will integrate the platform into many of its mobile phones and tablets.

Discover Financial Services’ strategy to diversify beyond credit cards suffered a setback as the lender’s deal to buy $1.1 billion in banking deposits from Allstate Corp. has fallen through.

State Bank of India Ltd. on July 28 became the first card issuer in the country to announce plans to convert its entire portfolio of magnetic stripe credit cards to EMV chip-and-PIN formats.

Credit cardholders made at least $72 billion more in payments on their credit card accounts than they spent on purchases using their cards between the first quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, underscoring the dramatic effect the recession had on consumer behavior, a new study from TransUnion suggests.

Visa Inc. is overhauling its pricing to spur merchants to route transactions its way and defend a dominant share of the U.S. debit card market, a position endangered by new regulations.

Record second-quarter highs in processing sales volume and net revenue have Heartland Payment Systems Inc. executives singing the praises of a retooled sales force and diligence in monitoring expenses.