Credit

Yes Bank Ltd. plans enter the credit card market in India by next March, an official from the Mumbai-based bank tells PaymentsSource. However, the rollout could occur sooner.

Shell Oil Products U.S. and Citigroup Inc. today announced the launch of the Shell Drive for Five proprietary credit card, which offers cardholders savings on fuel purchased at Shell petroleum stations. Citi issues the card and processes the transactions.

Citing a desire to remain competitive and drive issuer participation and innovation in its network, Visa Inc. in April increased the interchange rate it applies to purchases switched through its Interlink PIN-debit electronic funds transfer network.

Credit card interest rates in general likely will continue rising this year as a direct result of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, Richard D. Fairbank, chairman, CEO and president of Capital One Financial Corp., told analysts during a recent conference call.

The day when the U.S. joins many other large markets globally in converting to EMV chip-and-PIN cards from magnetic stripe versions will not occur any time soon. But it will come eventually, observers predict.

Independent sales organizations may realize such benefits as lower costs and faster sales cycles from using digital signatures and contracts, but they likely will find difficulty adopting a technology not widely used in the payments industry. Potential legal difficulties also exist, and not all processors and sponsor banks may approve of digital contracts, note observers.

Banks are ready to spend more on technology, but concerns over compliance expenses could keep some of them from moving forward soon with major upgrades.

China UnionPay Co. Ltd., the Shanghai-based national electronic-payments network and card brand, grew prodigiously last year but is coming under attack from domestic and foreign rivals vexed by its monopoly powers and runaway expansion.

More than half of all companies do not properly enforce rules surrounding access to sensitive customer information such as card data, according to a recent survey Ponemon Institute and Aveksa Inc. conducted among information-technology professionals.

In a move one observer calls a “productization” of credit card services in reaction to the implementation of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, Household Bank is offering its credit card customers the ability to opt in to over-limit coverage.

As competition for clients intensifies and margins grow increasingly thin, many independent sales organizations are seeking ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and stand out from competitors. One method gaining consideration is the use of digital signatures and contracts.

Rushikulya Gramya Bank in the Indian state of Orissa soon may become the first regional rural bank to issue debit cards to its customers that require biometric authentication, an official from the bank tells PaymentsSource.

Fast-growing social-networking site Blippy hit a rough patch this week when it revealed an internal glitch that resulted in exposing certain users’ credit card data on Google Inc.’s search engine for some three months.

Fiserv reported a 17% rise in first quarter earnings Thursday, even as revenues slid by about 1%.

Discover Financial Services accomplished much in 2009, despite the economic environment taking a heavy toll.

Contending the worst of the recession likely is over, Visa Inc. on Wednesday reported an increase in card spending both domestically and internationally for the company’s fiscal second quarter ended March 31.

A new payment card-fulfillment program from Total System Services Inc. and the Serverside Group Ltd. enables issuers to order relatively low quantities of customized cards on demand, the companies announced April 28.

Smartphone-based transactions represent an opportunity to grow U.S. card acceptance, which largely has become commoditized because most brick-and-mortar merchants accept payment cards. However, the challenge for independent sales organizations and other resellers of smartphone-based point-of-sale products may be locating mobile-merchant clients, observers say.

MasterCard Worldwide and Barclaycard US on April 27 announced a retooling of their Best Western International cobranded rewards card. The companies originally launched the product in 2002.

The Beijing branch of Hua Xia Bank and the Beijing Capital Highway Development Group have collaborated to launch a contactless card drivers may use to pay local highway tolls.