Payment processing

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, is pushing its debit-processing network to banks and credit unions as they await the outcome of pending caps on debit card interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s July deadline for capping debit interchange is just around the corner, but MasterCard Worldwide said it does not expect to feel its effects until at least next year.

MasterCard Inc.’s profit leapt 23.5%, to $562 million in the first quarter from $455 million a year earlier, driven in part by a rise in payments. The card brand’s revenue rose 14.5%, to $1.5 billion from $1.31 billion.

MasterCard this morning reported a 23.6% surge in first quarter profits, as the number and dollar amount of debit transactions continued to lead its growth.

If 7,500 credit unions across the United States would get their members to contact their Congressional representatives, it would “help keep the pressure on” lawmakers and potentially halt implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, Nat Rosenberg, senior vice president of U.S. Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, told attendees at the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations Annual Conference in Las Vegas last week.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc. said that its processing joint venture in Brazil with Banco Bradesco SA is handling its ELO-branded credit cards.

A host of new mobile payment applications promise many of the perks of near-field communication technology, without the costly hardware.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.–Payment-industry experts who gathered in Miami Beach, Fla., April 27 to 29 to attend the 23rd Card Forum & Expo reflected for the first time in a few years an attitude that seemed genuinely ready to greet certain disruptive changes instead of brace against them.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. would consider reimbursing financial institutions for any costs associated with reissuing credit cards that might have been compromised when someone breached the company’s PlayStation Network last month (see story).

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-If certain “conspiracy theories” have any merit, the Federal Reserve Board might be heeding signals from Capitol Hill as it takes more time to craft final debit-interchange rules, one payment-industry analyst suggested April 28 at the Card Forum & Expo in Miami Beach, Fla.

A Virginia circuit court on April 29 awarded $5.3 million in damages to the former chief executive and chairman of banking technology vendor Online Resources Corp. in an employment lawsuit he filed against the company.

Deluxe Corp. reported a 2% drop in first quarter earnings, to $32.6 million, as the company’s core check printing business continued to decline.

Target Corp. is testing the sale of co-branded prepaid cards with American Express Co. in more than 100 stores, the companies confirmed on Friday.

WASHINGTON — With some major banks now considering chip-card technology, fraud is expected to gravitate to less-secure cards.

A Virginia circuit court awarded $5.3 million in damages to the former chief executive and chairman of banking technology vendor Online Resources Corp. in an employment lawsuit he filed against the company.

PayPal Inc. has acquired mobile payments startup Fig Card Corp., the company announced on its blog April 28.

Independent sales organizations may increase their profit potential from cash-advance loans, which merchants pay back using future card receivables, by taking on more of the risk, observers say.

The prepaid card marketer Green Dot Corp. is putting more muscle into its expansion beyond retail checkout lanes.

Cardtronics Inc. saw its net income rise 55%, to $6.5 million for the first quarter ended March 31 from $4.2 million during the same period a year earlier, the company announced April 28.

Combining targeted online marketing with social media, Discover Financial Services will begin paying a $50 bounty during the first week of May for each referral who becomes a cardholder, according to a company executive.