Credit

Securitized public and private credit card deals totaled $69.4 billion for the five quarters beginning Jan. 1 2009, through March 31, 2010. The pace of deals rose sharply during the second half of last year, peaking during the third quarter at $27.6 billion. Securitized deals tapered off again during the first quarter of this year at $2.5 billion.

E-Commerce Association of Singapore has agreed to offer its online merchant clients payments services from PayPal Inc.

Aided by a substantial release of its credit card loan-loss reserves, Bank of America Corp. today announced that its Global Card Services unit earned $952 million in net income during the first quarter ended March 31; the unit reported a $1.75 billion loss during the same period a year ago.

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council will update all three of its standards this year, and it eventually may place all on a three-year update cycle, says Bob Russo, the council’s general manager.

Though some merchants experienced severe financial difficulties during the recession and some went out of business, many others made prudent business decisions and scaled back spending to remain operational, Glenn S. Goldman, president and CEO of Capital Access Network Inc., told PaymentsSource this week at the Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting and Expo in Las Vegas.

Aptys Solutions LLC this week introduced PayHub, a payment-processing system designed for community banks. The system supports multiple payment types, including automated clearinghouse transactions, mobile payments, wire funds transfers and check-image exchanges on a single platform.

The Chonqqing branch of Agricultural Bank of China, one of the China’s five state-owned banks, earlier this month became the latest branch of the bank to launch a debit card targeting local farmers.

Early-stage delinquencies ticked up at a handful of card issuers in March, which could be a bad sign for future credit trends.

MasterCard Inc. wants to get new payments tools out of the labs faster and into cardholders' wallets.

Cash payments will account for less than half of all retail transactions in the United Kingdom by 2015 as consumers increase their use of payment cards, especially debit cards, according to a UK Payments Council report.

Hypercom Corp. plans to use its new point-of-sale products for use with Apple Inc.’s iPhone not only to reach mobile merchants but also to target brick-and-mortar retailers that want to expedite client purchases and avoid long lines at sales registers, Stuart Taylor, Hypercom vice president of global solutions and marketing, told PaymentsSource this week at the Electronic Transactions Association Annual Meeting and Expo in Las Vega.

Community banks are planning to improve their mobile banking offerings, according to research by Banc Investment Group LLC.

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.