Credit

Credit card account originations are on the rise again as account-delinquency rates continue to fall and consumers continue to show discipline in their borrowing, a new report Equifax Inc. released Dec. 29 suggests.

U.S. credit card profits rose in 2010, as the total net pretax net income for bankcard and private-label card issuers rose 36%, to $18.5 billion from $13.6 billion in 2009, according to data credit card consulting firm R.K. Hammer released Jan. 3.

VeriFone Systems Inc. has completed its acquisition of Gemalto N.V.’s point-of-sale terminal business, VeriFone announced Jan. 3.

In a major turnaround in plans, lawmakers in the Australian state of Victoria reportedly have proposed scrapping the Myki transit card system.

PayPal Inc. this year will set up its first foreign currency settlement platform in Chongqing, China, along with five international e-commerce centers under an agreement the unit of eBay Inc. signed with the Chongqing Municipal Government on Dec. 28.

Like the early-'90s floral dresses and flannel shirts that became fashionable again, two retro credit products — secured lines of credit and personal loans — staged a comeback in 2010.

For all the hullabaloo mobile remote-deposit capture generated in 2010, the availability of the service that enables consumers to deposit checks from home using the cameras on their smartphones remains limited to a few banks’ customers.

Credit cardholders in the United Kingdom will gain more control over their card accounts in the New Year because of recent changes in industry policy.

Toronto-Dominion Bank is trying something unusual this holiday season. The Canadian bank is encouraging consumers to spend sensibly, and that means swearing off credit card use and shopping with cash instead.

Mobile banking’s of little use as an innovation if apps can’t ensure the identity of the user, creating a lucrative security market in which Tyfone just scored a pair of patents.

China UnionPay has expanded its global reach by making a substantial entry into Vietnam’s payments market in collaboration with Sacombank Ltd., a spokesperson for the Vietnam bank tells PaymentsSource.

Telecommunication firm Tata Indicom, the brand name of Mumbai-based Tata Teleservices Ltd., has signed a mobile-remittance deal with eSSecom Pvt. Ltd., the company announced Dec.15.

The Central Bank of Nigeria earlier this month reportedly granted its approval to allow FirstBank Nigeria PLC to offer mobile-payment services in the East African country.

The FBI has raided a Dallas server farm that housed computers used to launch Internet attacks against PayPal Inc., according to an affidavit posted by TheSmokingGun.com.

Commuters on the Delhi Metro rail network soon will be able to use their credit, debit and dual-function cards to make payments at the stations for various types of services, a spokesperson for the Delhi Metro Rail Corp. tells PaymentsSource.

Oberthur Technologies and MasterCard Worldwide have launched MasterCard M/Chip Advance, a technology designed to enhance card payments by incorporating more cardholder and third-party data into transactions, the two companies announced Dec. 22.

Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., a Norfolk, Va.-based debt buyer and accounts receivable management company, Monday announced an expansion of its credit facility to $407.5 million from $365 million.

The credit card tax the Malaysian government imposed earlier this year has caused the country’s card base to drop significantly, an official at the country’s central bank tells PaymentsSource.

Credit cardholders in India starting Saturday must enter a passcode whenever they make a transaction by phone under new regulations the country’s central bank announced Dec. 24.

A startup called Maxamum Inc. is trying to break down the credit system’s long-standing Catch 22–consumers generally cannot establish a credit history without having a credit card, but they typically cannot get a credit card without a credit history.