Credit

The universe of bonds backed by credit card loans shrank by about a fifth last year as an era of off-balance-sheet accounting ended and the industry re-engineered its funding base.

MasterCard Worldwide has signed a six-year sponsorship deal with The Walt Disney Co. and Euro Disney Associés S.C.A. to create marketing opportunities and to do card-related promotions in Europe, the card brand announced Jan. 11.

More than half of corporations plan to increase spending this year on payment-security compliance, while the task of educating employees on the proper methods for handling cardholder data remains a pesky challenge, new survey data released Jan. 12 suggest.

Payment-services company Merchant Link LLC and point-of-sale terminal maker Pax Technology Ltd. have signed agreements to use Voltage Security Inc.’s advanced SecureData encryption service, the security technology company announced in separate news releases Jan. 11.

Mobile-banking applications are plentiful and easily available, but new research suggests consumer awareness of them is low despite the buzz surrounding the service.

An online version of US Dataworks Inc.’s Clearingworks payment service is now available to businesses looking to automate many of the nonelectronic payments they receive, the Houston-based company announced Jan. 11.

A limited numbers of Bangkok commuters this spring will begin testing the use of a single, contactless smart card to access the city’s two train networks, an official at the Bangkok Mass Transit System Co. Ltd. tells PaymentsSource.

As payments executives debate which approach to mobile payments will win out, Bank of America Corp. is showing greater commitment to a system based on Visa Inc.’s specifications.

In a management shuffle announced Jan. 11, Obopay Inc. promoted its president to chief executive, and its previous CEO assumed the role of executive chairman.

Mobile payments startup Square Inc. has raised $27.5 million in venture capital, a spokesperson confirmed Jan. 11.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Southwest Airlines Co. have updated their rapid rewards credit card program to include a wider scope of rewards that includes no blackout dates or seat restrictions, Chase announced Jan. 11.

China Banking Corp. has launched in the Philippines a mobile version of its online-banking service customers may use to inquire about account balances, transfer funds and pay bills, the Manila-based bank announced Jan. 6.

A bank in the Philippines on Jan. 10 launched a prepaid smart card capable of performing multiple payment functions at ATMs, payment terminals or online.

China’s second-largest mobile-network operator China Unicom has begun offering a contactless mobile-payment service in Beijing.

Banks’ “all-in-one-place” marketing for online bill-payment services is helping them gain more customers who pay their credit card debts through their online-banking sites instead of through their issuers, new research findings suggest.

Banks’ “all-in-one-place” marketing for online bill-payment services is helping them gain more customers who pay their credit card debts through their online-banking sites instead of through their issuers, new research findings suggest.

U.S. consumer credit card portfolio sales were weak in 2010 as low demand drove the total number of deals down to merely a dozen, according to a report credit card consulting firm R.K. Hammer released Jan. 10.

U.S. credit card borrowers shed $4.2 billion in debt in November as the pool of total overall outstanding revolving receivables continued a decline that began in the fall of 2008, according to a Federal Reserve G.19 report on consumer credit released Jan. 7.

American Express Co. has appointed Toby Eduardo Redshaw executive vice president and chief information officer, replacing Stephen Squeri, who was promoted. Redshaw previously was global chief information officer for Aviva PLC.

Improved revenue growth in the Asia-Pacific region, Canada and the United States provided a welcome fiscal second-quarter boost for Global Payments Inc. But the merchant processor was unable to turn the rise in year-over-year revenue into a concurrent boost in net income, as one-time charges related to a reduction in employees in Canada affected company earnings.