-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Toronto-Dominion Bank is shooting to quadruple receivables in its private-label credit card business in the United States and Canada and will try to grab market share from competitors that may be retrenching, an executive said Monday.
June 17 -
United States-based auction Web site owner eBay Inc. Monday postponed a mandate scheduled to begin today that would allow only PayPal, eBay's payment service, as an online-payment option on the company's Australian Web site (CardLine Global, 16/6). In a statement, eBay says it will continue to challenge the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's decision last week to delay the mandate while the commission investigates whether it is anticompetitive. EBay says it is "disappointed that the [commission's] current view delays the opportunity to provide consumers a more-secure way to shop on eBay.com.au with confidence." EBay intends to work with the commission and hopes to achieve an outcome "which has the safety and security of eBay's members as its paramount objective," the company says in a statement. EBay says it will delay the removal of other payment methods from the site until 15 July. The company declined further comment when contacted by CardLine Global.
June 17 -
Italian mobile-phone operator PosteMobile is using technology from France-based smart card vendor Gemalto to enable customers of BancoPosta to make payments using their mobile phones. BancoPosta is the retail-banking division of the Italian post office. The software enables BancoPosta customers to pay bills, send telegrams and faxes, and wire funds from accounts and prepaid cards, a PosteMobile statement says. The software also enables PosteMobile to design services, monitor their use and adopt them to the consumer's preferences over the air, a Gemalto spokesperson tells CardLine Global. The software enables customers to perform a large number of postal and banking services using only one SIM card, and it works on any handset, the spokesperson adds.
June 17 -
France-based smart card provider Gemalto Monday announced it has delivered 1 million electronic student-identification cards to Polish universities. To date, 100 universities and high schools issue the card, and Gemalto expects another 300 universities to do so WHEN?, a statement says. Besides student identification and building access, students also can use the cards as an electronic ticket for public transportation and to pay for parking spaces, Gemalto says. Gemalto is adding additional features, including one that enables students to pay for meals at the cafeteria or for photocopies at the library. Some universities issue cards with a digital signature to enable students to sign documents electronically, the statement says.
June 17 -
China Merchants Bank Friday has launched two co-branded credit cards with Shanghai-based online-game operator The9 Ltd. and United States-based software developer Blizzard Entertainment for the online game World of Warcraft. The game, commonly known as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. "The card is available in two variants: a China UnionPay-branded card and a Visa-branded dual-currency card," a bank spokesperson tells CardLine Global. "However, one customer can apply only for one type of card." The dual-currency card uses U.S. dollars and yuan. Chinese World of Warcraft players can link their game accounts to the cards. The bank and companies also will share their customer bases, China Merchants says. In 2007, China had more than 40 million online-game players, according to the China Game Industry Survey Report. As of the end of May, World of Warcraft had more than 10 million subscribers worldwide.
June 17 -
Citibank Philippines Thursday launched a MasterCard Premier Airlines Miles credit card to replace its existing miles card that was exclusive to Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, according to a local report. Citibank says the card is designed to increase its miles-reward membership to 80,000 cardholders by the end of the year, up from 40,000 as of the end of May. "It's more than just a replacement card. It's a significant step forward," Mark Jones, Citibank Philippines business manager, says in the report. Besides Cathay, the new rewards card includes Singapore Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Thai Airway and Northwest Airlines, the reports says. The card also supports two travel alliances, One World and Star Alliance, which enables cardholders to earn and redeem their miles on more than 70 airlines worldwide. Miles earned with the new card do not expire, Citibank says.
June 17 -
United Kingdom-based payments-network provider PayPoint plc Monday announced it has secured a new credit and debit card interchange agreement with UK-based Lloyds TSB Group plc to enable its affiliated retailers to pay a maximum of 1.4% on credit card payments and a flat fee of 14 pence per debit card payment. PayPoint's terminals accept payments for gas and electricity bills, mobile phone top-ups, and transportation tickets. PayPoint has more than 19,800 terminals in such UK and Irish shops as Spar, Costcutter, Sainsburys Local, One Stop and Londis.
June 17 -
-
-
-
-
Capital One Financial Corp. and Alliance Data Systems Inc. on Monday both reported increases in net charge-off rates for May. The annualized charge-off rate for Capital One's $67.9 billion credit card portfolio rose 20 basis points, to 6.28% from 6.08% in April. The portfolio's 30-day delinquency rate was 3.81% in May, down from 3.9% in April, according to a Cap One filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The delinquency rate has decreased incrementally since the start of the year. In January, Cap One reported its delinquency rate at 4.36%. Alliance Data officials reported that the net charge-off rate in its master trust declined 138 basis points from April but climbed 53 basis points from a year earlier, to 5.28%. Alliance Data issues private-label credit cards.
June 17 -
