Credit

Visa Inc.’s planned $2 billion cash purchase of CyberSource Corp., a payment-services and fraud-management provider, suggests the card company is serious about mobile payments–and the risks that the mobile channel may attract.

A significant increase in purchase transactions Total System Services Inc. processed during the first three months of the year may be an indication consumer confidence in the economy is rising, the Columbus, Ga.-based payment processor suggested in its first-quarter earnings results yesterday afternoon.

Citing the continued effects of the economic downturn, Wells Fargo & Co. today reported a higher credit card charge-off rate on a slightly smaller pool of credit card receivables for the first quarter ended March 31 compared with the same period last year.

The Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai plans to seek bids from banks for the issuance of a dual credit/transit chip card, an official from the transportation operator tells PaymentsSource.

Visa Inc. today announced an agreement to purchase CyberSource Corp. to help the card brand’s e-commerce growth plans. Visa will purchase CyberSource for approximately $2 billion. The partnership also will help increase consumer use of debit, prepaid and credit products for online purchases, Visa says.

Fidelity National Information Services has agreed to pay the state almost $1 million and to implement data security for consumer records under a settlement of civil charges over the 2007 theft of consumer information by a former employee.

Target Corp.’s recent decision to stop marketing its cobranded Visa cards to new customers may be the latest sign of trouble for broad cobranded card programs.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. and Micros Systems Inc. have reached an amicable settlement in a 2007 antitrust and unlawful competition lawsuit the Princeton, N.J.-based processor filed against Micros. Other defendants included Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC and its subsidiary Merchant Link LLC.

U.S. Bancorp today reported credit and debit card revenue of $258 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 0.8% from $256 million during the same period last year.

Sainsbury’s Finance, a joint venture of Lloyds Banking Group and J Sainsbury PLC that provides credit cards, loans, insurance and other financial products to consumers, last week launched two credit cards. Sainsbury’s is a major grocery store and petroleum merchant in the United Kingdom.

The potential to outfit 1.5 million vending machines with payment card readers has enticed Apriva, a wireless payment-services company, to start Apriva Vend, a cashless-payment service, the company announced today.

Convenience-store operators this month are launching a fresh campaign for interchange-rate reform with an interactive, animated Web video designed to explain to consumers how credit and debit card interchange fees hurt them economically.

International Cards Co. Ltd. has inked a deal with Jordan Trade Facilities Co. Ltd. to launch a cobranded credit card. The MasterCard-branded, EMV-compliant chip card will become available later this month, according to Jordan Trade Facilities.

Consumers should be allowed to use credit cards to pay for insurance products, Lee Doo-hyung, the new chairman of the Credit Finance Association of Korea, said at his inauguration conference this week.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has a new bank-sponsor agreement with Bancorp Bank of Wilmington, Del.

Citing rising credit card purchase volume in key regions outside the U.S., Citigroup Inc. today reported that its global branded credit card business earned a $166 million profit for the first quarter ended March 31, up 17.7% compared with $141 million a year ago. Revenues for the card unit totaled $4.27 billion, up 51.4% from $2.82 billion.

MasterCard Canada says it plans to adopt the code of conduct for Canada’s debit and credit card industry that the country’s finance minister approved April 16. However, Visa Canada and Moneris Solutions Corp., Canada’s largest payments processor, say they need more time to study the code to determine how it affects their businesses.

Interest in Roam Data Inc.’s mobile-payment service appears to be high among independent sales organizations. Most of Roam Data’s 35 resellers are ISOs, says Will Graylin, founder and CEO of Boston-based Roam Data.

Korean federal police are asking the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea to ensure card issuers heighten credit card security, an official from the regulator confirms to PaymentsSource.

VeriFone Holdings Inc.’s upcoming VX point-of-sale terminals will be upgradeable to future Payment Card Industry security standards, the terminal maker says.