Credit

Technology is driving down the rate of fraud for banks, though the cost to consumers for identity theft crimes is going up.

Maas Global Solutions Corp. has become the exclusive processor for Pride Payments Network LLC after making a “significant investment” in the merchant acquiring independent sales organization, the companies announced Feb. 5

Lakshmi Vilas Bank Pvt. bank has become the 10th bank in India to launch the Internet Mobile Payment Service in India, a spokesperson for the Karur-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Credit card issuers in South Korea have stopped charging customers cash-advance handling fees, a spokesperson for the Credit Finance Association of Korea confirms to PaymentsSource.

As merchants crack down on fraud, resources to help investigate and recoup their losses from so-called “friendly fraud” are on the rise, helping to thwart the trend, observers say.

Sage Payment Solutions Inc. hopes to capture a new group of retail customers with the launch of a mobile service that provides small and midsize merchants lacking storefronts a low-cost option to accept credit and debit cards, the company announced Feb. 7.

Visa Inc. will allow merchants to offer discounts or other incentives to steer customers to a particular form of payment, including to a specific network brand or to any card product such as a “nonreward” Visa credit card, under terms of its settlement of an antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the card brand announced last week.

Seeking to cater to its consumers who do not have Apple Inc. iPhones or Google Inc. Android smartphones, TD Bank NA last week launched a mobile-banking application for Research In Motion Inc.’s BlackBerry devices.

Many risk managers across Europe expect an improvement in credit card and auto-loan performance in the next six months, with much less optimism for mortgage and small-business loans, recently released survey data suggest.

Most consumers in the United Kingdom have not changed their payment habits, but some say they will rely less on credit cards even if the economy improves, suggest recent survey data from New York-based Auriemma Consulting Group.

Many banks have reported financial improvements, but their technology spending is still at a trickle.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the financial-services watchdog agency Congress mandated last year as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, on Feb. 3 launched its website, laying the groundwork for soliciting consumer complaints about credit cards and other financial-services products.

NCR Corp.’s investments in improving its technology are helping it recover from the economic downturn by sparking more demand from retail banks, the ATM and kiosk maker noted Feb. 3 during a quarterly earnings call with analysts.

Consumers are attacking their debt and borrowing less, but the average U.S. borrower with debt from unsecured loans, including credit cards, still owes an average of $10,000 spread among an average of seven creditors, according to data CareOne Services Inc., a national for-profit consumer debt-relief firm, released Feb. 2.

Zumogo, ProPay Inc.’s new social-media payment tool for mobile phones, leaves out vital information that ProPay says some competitors leave in.

The South African National Department of Transport has picked Clear2Pay NV to develop functional testing services for EMV contactless cards and payment terminals in the country, the agency announced last week.

In yet another sign 2011 promises to include an avalanche of Near Field Communication-related announcements, LG Corp. is jumping on the bandwagon. That should shock no one, one analyst contends.

Fiserv Inc.’s shares fell more than 3% in after-hours trading Thursday after the Brookfield, Wis., banking technology vendor reported earnings that missed analysts’ estimates.

MasterCard Worldwide CEO Ajay Banga expressed concern about the effects of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed debit-interchange rules, but he also sketched out various scenarios in which MasterCard may benefit during an analyst conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Continuing its expansion into newer payments-related territory, Visa Inc. intends to focus on increasing its presence in mobile payments, online commerce and funds transfers, Joseph W. Saunders told analysts during a conference call to discuss fiscal first-quarter earnings.