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Payvment’s grown rapidly in its first year, fast enough for the Facebook shopping site to find itself in need of more talent and larger digs while it considers how bank involvement can enhance the business model.

(This article contains some corrected information.)

Motorists in Dubai reportedly are upset about the new mParking service launched by the Road Transport Authority of Dubai because of its limited functionality. The service enables motorists to pay for their parking lot tickets by sending a text message from their mobile phones.

As the effects of recent financial legislation may cause some card issuers to scale back on the rewards and loyalty programs they offer to encourage card use and, inherently, shopping, the doors may be opening for third-party loyalty-program providers to align with merchants.

More than 450 C&A Mode KG fashion-retail stores in Germany plan to deploy 2,700 Hypercom Corp. Artema Hybrid point-of-sale terminals, Hypercom announced Dec. 6.

The majority of companies are using outdated methods to reach customers and fail to take individual preferences into account, according to a survey of retail banking industry and customer communication trends.

Inside Contactless, whose semiconductors power smart cards, says it has changed its name to Inside Secure to reflect the company’s enhanced product portfolio and market focus following its acquisition of Atmel Corp.’s secure microcontroller business (see story).

Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal Credit Union has slashed rates on credit card balance transfers to just 2.99% to help members and prospective members kick-start holiday spending.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. has agreed to make Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s SmartLink payment system available to its 6,500 Citgo retailers, payment processor Heartland announced Dec. 2.

Think Finance wanted to give underbanked consumers access to credit when they needed it and help them avoid a bad cycle of debt.

Consumer spending online during the five-day period that started with Black Friday last week grew by double digits compared with the same period in 2009, merchant processor Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC announced Dec. 1.

Air New Zealand Ltd. has become the second airline Down Under in recent weeks to increase the surcharge it applies to bookings initiated with certain payment cards.

Target Corp.’s move in April to discontinue its cobranded Visa card and put its efforts behind a new discount-based rewards program for its private-label card could change the landscape of cobranded cards, contends Ken Paterson, Mercatur Advisory Group principal analyst, in his report “Cobranded Consumer Cards 2010: Mature Products Ripe For Change.”

VeriFone Systems Inc. this afternoon reported fiscal fourth quarter revenue of $276 million, up 26.7% from $217.8 million during same period ended Oct. 31 last year. The quarter’s performance pushed the point-of-sale terminal maker’s annual revenue past the $1 billion mark for the first time.

Singapore’s telecommunication regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, has issued a “call for collaboration” seeking participation in the deployment of an interoperable Near Field Communication payments infrastructure in the country.

Heady growth in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America made for a strong third quarter for France-based point-of-sale equipment maker Ingenico S.A.

American Express Co. has added a set of travel benefits for its Platinum cardholders, the company announced Dec. 1.

A one-time gang member was sentenced to jail in Sacramento, Calif. Monday for his role in fraudulent card ring that stole as much as $2 million from 37 credit union and banks in late 2007 and early 2008.

Advent International and Bain Capital have completed their acquisition of a majority interest in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the two private equity firms announced Dec. 1.

Visa Europe is implementing ValidSoft Ltd.’s fraud-prevention technology, which uses the location of a consumer’s mobile phone to help prevent credit and debit card fraud, the card brand announced late last month.