Debit cards

Toronto-based Mint Corp. is taking advantage of the UAE government’s ambitious plans to develop a digital, cashless society.

Founded in 1971, First Data may not have the glow of being a trendy startup. Green Dot, founded in 1999, is in the same boat. But under the hood both companies have done much to keep up with the innovators.

Visa has moved to cut its debit transaction fees in India by 95%, bringing it more in line with RuPay, India’s state-run domestic debit scheme.

Competition for deposits is heating up as summer approaches, and banks are responding in all sorts of ways — from launching digital-only platforms to raising CD rates to reviving debit rewards. But rising interest rates could weaken demand for loans, especially mortgages.

Beem It, a startup owned by three of Australia’s largest banks, has launched a free real-time social payments app designed to run on older debit networks instead of the country's new faster payments platform.

Two factions that have taken on the card networks on separate fronts are combining their might in the latest effort to pressure Visa and Mastercard. Even so, there is not a lot of reason for the credit card brands to change their methods.

Retailer associations and debit network providers have formed the Secure Payments Partnership, designed to address the ongoing problem of payment fraud.

Splitit has recently begun offering point-of-sale financing with monthly installment payments for debit card purchases, targeting more budget-conscious U.S. and European consumers as well as those without credit.

Citigroup Inc. is considering the idea, as well as other types of rewards for checking and savings accounts, to entice customers to sign up for its fledgling online bank, which it began to roll out nationwide earlier this year.

Visa Canada plans to offer real-time B2B and B2C disbursements via its Visa Direct card-to-card transfer service, competing head-on with Canada's Interac network and a product Mastercard launched in the country earlier this year.