Credit

A United Kingdom-based smart card software company has launched Branch in a Box, a proprietary chip card service designed to encourage local spending in the UK and to enable consumers to organize their finances through their credit unions.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. on Thursday named Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC as one of its preferred merchant processors for users of its mobile phone card reader.

Transaction Network Services Inc. and Blue Bamboo have entered into an agreement that enables independent sales organizations, acquirers and processors to sell a mobile-payment system, according to the companies.

LIC Cards Services Ltd. of has launched a card-protection plan for its credit card customers, an official from the India-based card issuer tells PaymentsSource.

Erste Bank Hungary plans to conduct a pilot during which customers may pay utility bills using ATMs, the Budapest-based bank announced April 1.

Loan volume, including credit card lending, slid 11% over the 18 months through the end of last year, but the decline showed signs of tapering off toward the end of 2009.

Macy’s Inc. today announced that American Express Co. will replace Visa Inc. this fall as the card network supporting its Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s cobranded credit cards. Citigroup Inc., which purchased Macy’s credit card receivables from the retailer in 2005, issues its private-label and cobranded credit cards and will switch the brand to AmEx.

The head of Australia’s dominant taxi-payments system is defending a 10% surcharge it levies on payment card payments, local media report.

PayPal users in Japan as of March 31 no longer may send noncommercial transactions to individuals until the further notice, PayPal announced in a statement.

Global Payments Inc. has named Jeffrey S. Sloan, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs & Co., as the Atlanta-based payment processor’s new president.

Residents of the Indian city of Ahmedabad soon will be able to use contactless smart cards to pay their fares in the city’s bus and rapid-transit system, an official from the local transport authority Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd. tells PaymentsSource.

Citibank wants to surpass National Australia Bank’s position as that country’s fourth-largest credit card issuer based on cards issued, according to a bank official.

Most U.S. consumers cite cash as their preferred form of payment despite increasing adoption of debit cards and other electronic modes, according to a report released last week by the Rockville, Md., consumer research firm Packaged Facts.

Visa Inc. has promoted Elizabeth Buse to group executive, international from global head of product. Jim McCarthy, previously senior sales executive for North America, succeeds Buse. Rupert Keeley, previously group president for several international regions, is leaving the company.

Speakers at a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on proposed transaction-reporting requirements that take effect next January largely focused on the potentially detrimental effects their companies may experience from a foreign-merchant rule contained within the law, according to comments from the hearing.

As many as 100,000 contactless key fobs could be in use this year in a new transit scheme launched in Rio de Janiero, according to Inside Contactless, a France-based contactless-technology firm.

An Indian technology vendor plans to launch a service later this year that will enable investors in India to buy and sell mutual funds using mobile phone text messages.

DataTreasury Corp.'s courtroom victory over three major payments companies is expected to give the check-imaging technology provider more ammunition in its ongoing patent battle with some of the country's largest financial companies.

Discover Financial Services said Monday that it has extended its network agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. through 2015.

As a result of passage of the Credit CARD Act and its Aug. 22 compliance date, 95% of credit unions that issue cards in conjunction with The Members Group have discontinued the authorization of overlimit credit card transactions, the company is reporting.