Credit

Many banks' mobile strategies have hinged on getting smartphone applications to market as fast as possible, but now the early adopters are moving on to the next step — making sure those apps live up to consumers' expectations.

American Express Co. is investing heavily in new products and has hired a MasterCard Worldwide veteran to help expand beyond the elite cardholders it has traditionally pursued.

Seeking to reassure investors that the effects of the recent cyberattack on the e-mail marketing operations of its Epsilon unit will be minimal, parent Alliance Data Systems Corp.’s chief told analysts April 21 that, although the event made clients angry and frustrated, it has not resulted in any significant falloff in business.

Visa Inc. is working with clothing retailer Gap Inc. to deliver discounts to cardholders via mobile phone SMS text messages.

Stable and improving credit trends helped generate 10% growth in Fifth Third Bancorp’s first quarter card-processing volume, to $80 million from $73 million a year earlier, the bank announced April 21.

Barclays Bank India Pvt. Ltd. reportedly plans to review its credit card business in India after deciding to focus instead on secured retail assets.

Credit quality is improving for Capital One Financial Corp., but the bank and card issuer expects loan growth to continue to be slow as competition for new customers intensifies.

Improving economic trends that significantly lowered its credit card charge-offs and reduced its provision for losses helped card issuer and loyalty-services provider Alliance Data Systems Corp. to report a sharp rise in first-quarter profits.

Capital One Financial Corp.’s net income rose 60% in the first quarter as the credit card lender’s charge-offs fell and it set aside less funding for future loan losses.

As the average credit card charge-off rate has declined sharply over the past six months, so has demand for collection agencies’ services. But an executive at one firm that performs both collections and customer service says business is picking up again as more consumers loosen their purse strings and issuers relax their risk-management standards.

American Express Co. earned first quarter net income of $1.2 billion, up 35.6% from $885 million during the same period in 2010. Total revenues net of interest expense rose 6.1%, to $7 billion from $6.6 billion, the company announced April 20.

Significant improvement in consumer credit helped Wells Fargo & Co. to cross-sell a record of combined products per household during the first quarter, the company announced April 20.

Payment-terminal software applications are poised to play a significant role in the Near Field Communication payment ecosystem.

Banks accounted for the largest share of some $48 million in perceived rewards U.S. consumers earned through rewards programs over the past year, yet about one-third of those rewards will go unredeemed, new study data suggest.

Many airline rewards cards, including the Capital One Venture credit card, tout “no blackout dates,” but one airline is going the opposite direction by limiting ticket rewards to “off-peak” trips.

The National Payments Corp. of India plans to link Rupay, India’s soon-to-be-launched domestic payment card scheme, with the country’s Aadhaar resident-identification program.

The Republic of Botswana’s First National Bank has launched a mobile wallet for its customers in the African country, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

To get a better read of their customers, JPMorgan Chase and Visa have become the initial sponsors of Amazon.com's new advertiser-supported Kindle e-book device.

WASHINGTON — As Congress continues to struggle over whether to delay a pending Federal Reserve Board plan to cap interchange fees for debit cards, a key question remains unresolved: How far is the central bank prepared to go on its own to modify the rule?

Sears Holding Corp.’s Kmart department stores have begun offering an improved version of Western Union Co.’s walk-in bill payment service.