Payment processing

Payment-terminal software applications are poised to play a significant role in the Near Field Communication payment ecosystem.

The National Payments Corp. of India plans to link Rupay, India’s soon-to-be-launched domestic payment card scheme, with the country’s Aadhaar resident-identification program.

The Republic of Botswana’s First National Bank has launched a mobile wallet for its customers in the African country, a spokesperson for the bank tells PaymentsSource.

WASHINGTON — As Congress continues to struggle over whether to delay a pending Federal Reserve Board plan to cap interchange fees for debit cards, a key question remains unresolved: How far is the central bank prepared to go on its own to modify the rule?

Sears Holding Corp.’s Kmart department stores have begun offering an improved version of Western Union Co.’s walk-in bill payment service.

Merchant processor WorldPay is reselling mobile-payments technology from vendor CellPoint Mobile that will allow clients’ customers to conduct transactions in several ways.

Datacard Group has launched its SuperCAT II card encoder, which enables bank customers to select or change a card’s PIN at a branch, the company announced April 18.

Acculynk Inc. has put its independent sales organization reseller program on the backburner as it focuses on its core business, but at least one observer believes the company’s PaySecure Internet-PIN debit product is still a valuable add-on service for merchant acquirers.

Selling mobile-processing services can prove quite profitable for independent sales organizations, observers say.

To combat card fraud, banks in Malaysia starting in January must issue transaction alerts via text messages to their credit cardholders under an April 14 order from Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank.

Richard Davis, the top executive at U.S. Bancorp and chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable, told analysts April 19 it is a toss-up as to whether the Federal Reserve Board would press ahead with its proposed 12-cent cap on debit card interchange.

Richard Davis, the top executive at U.S. Bancorp and chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable, told analysts April 19 it is a toss-up as to whether the Federal Reserve Board would press ahead with its proposed 12-cent cap on debit card interchange.

A U.S. appellate court has approved Minnesota’s TCF Bank’s request for an expedited appeal of a lower court ruling denying a bid to block the Federal Reserve’s final rule on interchange charges, setting up a three-way race between the courts, the Fed and Congress on the controversial effort to limit the lucrative fees.

Diebold Inc. plans to provide more than 200 ATMs to Sovcombank Investment and Commercial Bank LLC, the company announced April 18.

The Obama administration announced Friday the release of a strategy to protect consumer and business identities in cyberspace.

The availability of NFC smartphones — an ingredient many say is necessary for mobile payments systems to take off — may be a less onerous problem by 2014, a report from Juniper Research said.

Citing increased international growth, Citigroup Inc. on April 18 reported an $864 million profit for its Citi-branded credit card operation for the first quarter ended March 31, up 397% from $174 million during the same period a year earlier.

Visa Europe is expressing dissatisfaction with last week’s General Court of the European Union’s decision to uphold the 10.2 million euro (US14.7 million or £8.7 million) fine imposed on the company for refusing to do business with a U.S. bank, saying it had already settled the dispute in 2006.

AisleBuyer LLC, a Boston company, is selling mobile software that enables a consumer to scan an image of a payment card and use it to pay for in-store and online purchases.

Corporation Bank Ltd. has launched a mobile wallet to enable its customers to make purchases with their mobile handsets, a spokesperson for the Mangalore-based bank tells PaymentsSource.