Credit

Two payment transaction software and service providers, S1 and Fundtech, have agreed to a "merger of equals" today in a deal valued at $700 million. Upon closing of the transaction, S1 shareholders will own approximately 55 percent and Fundtech shareholders approximately 45 percent of the combined company. The combined company will be headquartered at S1's headquarters in Atlanta and will be called Fundtech.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile.

China Everbright Bank Ltd. has chosen Fair Isaac Corp., commonly known as FICO, to provide a customer-management system for its credit card business, a sign of increased efforts to bring better processes to the local card industry.

Most high school students believe credit card companies often entice consumers into shouldering more debt than they can handle, new survey data released June 23 suggest.

As consumers communicate more using social-media networks, credit card companies see the sites as new vehicles to tout their products and services.

Global technology vendor Serverside Group filed suit in federal court June 23 claiming dozens of credit union groups and banks are infringing on its patents for card customization technology.

More consumers plan to use credit card rewards points to offset summer-travel costs compared with last year, and hotels are the most-popular option among cardholders redeeming points for travel, suggest new survey data released June 23.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reportedly has abandoned more than a thousand debt-collection lawsuits across the U.S. that sought to recover soured credit-card loans from borrowers, according to Dow Jones.

Although mobile-payments venture Isis has publicly disclosed that it wants to add larger payments networks than its initial partner, Discover Financial Services, Discover says it might now be better positioned in the mobile-payments market.

Despite efforts by major card companies to promote the speed and excitement of using mobile phones to pay, it likely will take more than glitzy marketing to convince consumers to use such services, according to a Federal Reserve strategist.

China Everbright Bank Ltd. has chosen Fair Isaac Corp., commonly known as FICO, to provide a customer-management system for its credit card business, a sign of increased efforts to bring better processes to the local card industry.

Users of the check-in service Foursquare now can automatically redeem deals offered by merchants on the social-media application using an enrolled American Express Co. card.

Discover Financial Services second-quarter profit more than doubled as declining delinquency and charge-off rates allowed the credit-card lender to tuck away a smaller amount of money to cover bad loans.

NerdWallet, which bills itself as the "first .org credit card search site," has expanded its card search tool to include credit unions. The site had previously included 500 bank issuers of cards, and has now added cards from 1,200 credit unions.

The proliferation of merchant-funded incentive programs and their growing popularity with banks is likely to open up certain new competitive fronts among credit and debit card issuers, a new Aite Group study suggests.

Reflecting the effects of lenders’ tight management of credit card standards over the past couple of years, the average U.S. consumer credit card charge-off rate declined again in May as it continues its march to potentially record low levels, according to new data Moody’s Investors Service released June 21.

Credit card companies should tie their marketing to social-media sites because more credit cardholders are connecting with them through those channels, new survey data suggest.

Yahoo Inc.’s issues with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. over the ownership of the Alipay online payments provider have yet to be resolved, though the companies are making progress, they announced June 22.

Illustrating Indian banks’ new focus on high-income individuals for their credit card business, holders of premium credit cards issued by Standard Chartered India Pvt. Ltd. may accrue extra “Bonus Points” besides the regular rewards points they earn when making purchases in India.

The rise of online and mobile banking plus new regulatory pressure on debit card interchange are converging to spark explosive growth in credit and debit card merchant-funded loyalty programs, a new report suggests.