Credit

WASHINGTON — With some major banks now considering chip-card technology, fraud is expected to gravitate to less-secure cards.

MasterCard Inc. announced that Rima Qureshi has joined its board of directors.

Endeca Technologies Inc. said its Endeca Mobile Commerce system is being used by Sallie Mae's Upromise for mobile rewards.

PayPal Inc. has acquired mobile payments startup Fig Card Corp., the company announced on its blog April 28.

One-third of Australians expect to experience difficulty meeting their credit commitments over the next three months, new survey data show.

Independent sales organizations may increase their profit potential from cash-advance loans, which merchants pay back using future card receivables, by taking on more of the risk, observers say.

Combining targeted online marketing with social media, Discover Financial Services will begin paying a $50 bounty during the first week of May for each referral who becomes a cardholder, according to a company executive.

MasterCard Inc. announced April 27 it has appointed Marcie Verdin as its group head for global person-to-person payments.

MoneyGram International Inc. announced April 28 that its net income rose 30% to $14 million in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier.

It's show time for Fiserv.

WASHINGTON — Sony Corp.'s disclosure that a massive data breach may have let thieves steal the personal information of more than 77 million PlayStation users is playing into the hands of banks attempting to change a Federal Reserve Board proposal to limit debit interchange fees.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-Poor service from a credit card service independent sales organization helped convince James McKelvey to co-found Square Inc., the exec told attendees on April 27 at the 23rd annual Card Forum and Expo co-sponsored by PaymentsSource and the American Banker in Miami Beach, Fla.

WASHINGTON — For consumers, convenience and rewards are the most commonly discussed benefits of near field communication for mobile payments. There is also a substantial security benefit, though banks are reluctant to let consumers know.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is in another sparring session with the American Bankers Association and asks the organization to “cut to the chase” regarding the motivations behind the organization’s criticisms of the interchange reform law that Congress enacted last year.

EBay Inc.’s PayPal Inc. unit during the first quarter March 31 continued to expand its global foot print while its other payment unit, Bill Me Later, became a more mainstream payment method in the U.S. with 42% growth to $324 million from $228 in total payments volume.

Cash, not cards, remains the most widely used payment instrument in Australia for low-value payments, a recent Reserve Bank of Australia payments-use study reveals. Cards, however, are the dominant payment method for mid-value payments ranging from AU$50 (US$52 or 36 euros) and AU$500.

The opportunity to capitalize on the explosive growth in payments as the industry steadily moves to electronic and mobile platforms is attracting many new players and business models, but the winners ultimately will be those who can leverage payments on a massive scale, according to Citigroup Inc.’s top enterprise executive.

Bank of America Corp. plans to begin charging credit card penalty rates again after it eliminated them following the CARD Act.

Visa Inc. has invested an undisclosed amount of money in Square Inc., the start-up company that lets merchants accept card payments through a small square-shaped device that plugs into smartphones.

Existing payments-industry giants are at risk of becoming obsolete if they do not begin experimenting soon with new payments technologies and finding innovative partnerships to meet the changing marketplace demands, according to Dan Schulman, group president for enterprise growth at American Express Co.