Credit

Citing modest improvements in its recession-battered card portfolio, JPMorgan Chase & Co. today reported a $303 million loss within its Card Services unit for the first quarter ended March 31; it reported a $547 million net loss during the same period last year.

Apriva is offering training and educational tools to its independent sales organization resellers to help increase their knowledge of and ability to sell wireless smartphone-enabled point-of-sale products, according to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based wireless-payments provider.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC is weighing its next steps as the merchant processor nears its one-year anniversary as a joint venture between Fifth Third Bancorp and Advent International Corp., a Boston-based investment firm (see story).

Despite grim predictions that the credit crunch would choke off the economy’s biggest engine — consumption — people have indeed been spending again.

Korea-based Samsung Card Co. Ltd. will enter the credit card market in Thailand by the middle of this year, the Korea Times newspaper reports.

Discover Financial Services yesterday said it is offering $500 million of 7% subordinated notes for its Discover Bank unit.

Four new merchants have agreed to participate in MasterCard Inc.'s Easy Savings program, offering rebates to participating business customers who use the Purchase, N.Y., payments company's credit, debit or prepaid cards.

Hypercom Corp. announced April 13 plans to sell two versions of a card reader that plugs into an iPhone and uses its wireless connection to handle card payments. The products, called SmartPayments Mobile, are designed for merchants that want to accept card payments but cannot be tied to an office location because of the nature of their business.

To highlight consumers’ ability use credit and debit cards to conduct tax payments, MasterCard Worldwide is touting acceptance of its products at a tax-payment Web site.

First Data Corp. has authorized Hypercom Corp. to manage the processor’s remote key-injection processes as an encrypting service organization, according to the companies. Tasq Technology Inc., a Rocklin, Calif.-based point-of-sale-equipment distributor and a subsidiary of Atlanta-based First Data, also will make available Hypercom’s remote key-injection system, known a HyperSafe.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. is looking to double its credit cardholder base by the end of March 2011, an official from the Kuala Lumpur-based financial institution tells PaymentsSource.

New MasterCard Worldwide tiered-interchange rates that affect domestic ATM cash withdrawals will seriously cripple and possibly destroy the nation’s ATM independent sales organizations, charge executives and board members who represent many of the companies.

MasterCard Inc. has what it needs to thrive, but its next chief executive says he still has to put the pieces together.

Visa Inc. earlier this month announced five more merchants have joined its SavingsEdge program, which offering savings to Visa small-business credit and debit cardholders, bringing to 12 the total number of merchants participating.

Newtek Business Services Inc., a small-business services company, once again is a preferred vendor to the more than 200 car dealers belonging to the General Motors Minority Dealers Association, New York-based Newtek announced this week.

SK Telecom Co. Ltd. has launched a Near Field Communication mobile-payment service called T Smart Pay in cooperation with Hana SK Card, the company announced recently.

MasterCard Worldwide will need the deep international expertise of incoming CEO Ajay Banga in order to hold its own against chief rival Visa Inc. in an increasingly competitive global-payments marketplace, analysts say.

MasterCard Inc. is trying to get into cardholders' heads with its new online shopping portal.

If knowledge is power, lenders are becoming more powerful.

Consumers' confidence in the economy fell in March after two consecutive months of gains, according to data from Discover Financial Services.