Credit

Barclaycard UK and Affiliate Window have launched an online store where Barclaycard Freedom cardholders may earn cash-back rewards when shopping at participating merchants, the United Kingdom-based issuer announced Dec. 8.

In a foreign takeover battle that could reverberate among U.S. financial institutions, cards maker Oberthur offered to acquire Britain’s venerable bank notes and cash machine manufacturer De La Rue for $1.4 billion, but the offer was rejected as insufficient.

The Federal Trade Commission charged three debt-relief operations with making unsubstantiated claims to lure consumers nationwide into paying thousands of dollars in upfront fees, but failing to reduce credit card debts as promised, the agency announced in early December.

DataCard Corp. said its recently acquired Dynamic Card Solutions unit has been granted a U.S. patent on instant issuance printing technology for unembossed “flat” financial cards.

Payment-terminal company RDM Corp. says Intuit Payment Solutions, a division of Intuit Inc., has certified its Synergy II payment terminal for use on Intuit’s National Check Deposit Network check-processing system.

Merchant-services company Newtek Business Services Inc. has become a member of Charge Anywhere LLC’s certified distributor program, South Plainfield, N.J.-based Charge Anywhere announced Dec. 7.

The most desirable credit card customers–those who are younger and continue to build buying power–have lower ownership of proprietary store cards and network-branded credit cards than do consumers in other age groups, according to a cobranded card report from Mercator Advisory Group.

CashEdge Inc., known almost exclusively as an electronic payment provider, is venturing into new and potentially lucrative territory with plastic gift cards.

Jaccs Co. Ltd. has launched a MasterCard-branded credit card designed to help improve the environment, the Tokyo-based card-issuing subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced Dec. 10.

WASHINGTON — For the first time in its history, the Federal Reserve Board said Friday it would host a live webcast of an upcoming open board meeting.

A suspect was arrested for allegedly taking part in Wednesday's online attacks against MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc. and PayPal Inc.

SunTrust Banks Inc. keeps embracing new payments systems rather than try to steer customers to the older payment types that most banks favor.

SunTrust Banks Inc. keeps embracing new payments systems rather than try to steer customers to the older payment types that most banks favor.

Banco De Oro, the largest bank in the Philippines based on assets, on Dec. 1 announced the launch of a China UnionPay-branded credit card.

Credit card delinquencies will drop sharply again in 2011, continuing the large decline experienced in the second half of 2010, predicts TransUnion, a Chicago-based credit bureau.

After cutting off payments to Wikileaks, MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc. and PayPal Inc. have found themselves under assault.

More than three-fourths of all U.S. noncash payments in 2009 were made electronically, a new Federal Reserve study indicates, representing a 9.3% annualized increase since the Fed’s previous study that revealed that in 2006 two-thirds of noncash payments were electronic (see report).

The allure of double-digit payment card transaction volume growth and recent deregulation have prompted Elavon Inc. and Credicard, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., to form a merchant acquiring joint venture in Brazil, Elavon announced Dec. 9.

China’s largest telecommunication operator China Telecom Ltd. is partnering with the Bank of China Ltd. and China UnionPay to offer a mobile-payment service in the city of Ningbo in China’s Zhenjiang province.

The Qatar Central Bank, the apex banking body in the Middle Eastern country, has given its nod to mobile funds-transfer and payment services in Qatar.