Data and information management

Before Target, there was TJX, the major 2007 breach that impacted about 45 million credit cards. The crime and its prevention were basic, and provide a lesson for today's retailers that are battling a new wave of data theft.

Reconnecting to his youthful punk rock days, billionaire Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money U.K. is offering a credit card featuring the Sex Pistols.

Citizens Financial in Providence, R.I., has signed a five-year agreement to outsource some of its IT infrastructure to IBM.

Banks are under significant pressure to modernize payments or lose customers to more nimble digital challengers. But regulatory obligations, which at times hold banks back from being innovative, are also the reason banks become the hero in resolving disputes over charges.

The October deadline for EMV-chip card adoption is fast approaching, and banks that are behind the curve are turning to instant issuance to quickly get chip cards into the hands of their customers.

The Bitcoin Foundation's goal of promoting the new digital currency was quickly overshadowed by the personal and legal problems of its management. Now, under new leadership, the group aims to return to its original mission.

PayItSimple is extending the distribution of its installment payment technology by partnering with merchant services company North American Bancard (NAB).

A criminal planting malware to render payment card data unusable and seeking a ransom from the victim to decrypt it, on average, is getting an astronomical 1,425% return on his investment, security vendor Trustwave says.

Merchants face a confusing onslaught of terminal updates, encryption, tokenization and EMV, placing organizations like the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) in the role of trying to make sense of the changes.

In a letter to nine lenders, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said investigators uncovered identity-theft schemes hatched by tellers at some of the biggest institutions.

Several weighty issues remain on the agenda for policymakers over the next few months, including everything from living wills to regulatory relief to a long-lost compensation rule.

Many community banks are trying to determine the right balance of in-house staff and outsourced assistance in the area of risk management. Cost cutting and regulatory oversight loom large over such decisions.

U.S.-based payment processor Total System Services (TSYS) has launched a service called Chip Card on Demand that provides issuers the option to add EMV chips to compatible magstripe cards during the production process.

IHL, which tracks retail payment trends, has slammed EMV in a recent report, calling it "a colossal waste of time, effort and capital to the retail industry."

There have been various media reports about some of the security shortcomings within Apple Pay. The shortcomings are not security holes per se, in the sense that a hole is generally unintended. No, the security issues were deliberate, done with the goal of making signups and initial usage as easy as possible for shoppers.

Buyout firm Abraaj Group is working with Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Inc. as it plans an initial public offering of its stake in a credit-card processing business, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Commerce Bancshares in Kansas City, Mo., has established relationships with several new organizations, including environmental groups and universities, to offer co-branded credit cards.

American Express Co. has to spend more on its credit-card rewards program if the lender wants to remain competitive with Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. products, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.

As cards include more embedded technology, issuers and manufacturers face the tough question of how much card power to sacrifice for stronger fraud protection.

Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry described cyber-readiness as a "system-wide" exercise, and said a new tool for assessing readiness can help banks of all sizes.