Payment processing

WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Durbin, author of the controversial rule to set caps on debit fees, yesterday denounced assertions by banks and credit unions that having card giants MasterCard and Visa set prices for debit is preferable to having the Federal Reserve set price limits on the increasingly popular form of payment.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Richard Durbin, author of the controversial rule to set caps on debit fees, yesterday denounced assertions by banks and credit unions that having card giants MasterCard and Visa set prices for debit is preferable to having the Federal Reserve set price limits on the increasingly popular form of payment.

Helped by improving economic trends, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Card Services unit on April 13 reported a healthy increase in credit card sales volume for the first quarter ended March 31.

Visa Inc. has adapted the fraud scoring tool that it uses to vet card-not-present transactions to aid government agencies and private businesses with corporate card accounts.

Wells Fargo & Co. is planning to issue 15,000 EMV cards to U.S. residents in a test this year, making it by far the largest bank to offer the smart cards to domestic customers.

Driven by lower provision for credit losses, partially offset by lower net revenue, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Card Services unit generated net income of $1.34 billion for the first quarter ended March 30; it reported a $303 million loss during the same period last year, the New York-based issuer reported April 13.

he breach last month at Epsilon, the email marketing arm of Alliance Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Texas, was probably four months in the making, according to an April 9 story in CNet, and it could have started with a phishing attack against an email services partner that Epsilon used, called Return Path Inc., of New York.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. has added former executives from ING Direct and Hypercom Corp. to its management team.

A consortium of technology companies with banking-industry connections is urging lawmakers to delay implementation of the Federal Reserve Board’s proposed new debit-interchange rules, warning they could heighten risk by forcing banks to reduce their investments in security and fraud-protection services.

The ATM Industry Association has published a best-practices guide for decommissioning ATMs at the end of their seven- to 10-year lifespan.

Direct carrier billing is becoming more popular as consumers see the convenience and merchants are more willing to accept higher transaction fees to increase sales, contends Zong Inc., a mobile-payments platform provider.

IDBI Bank Ltd. has become the second bank in India to support cash withdrawals initiated at point-of-sale terminals, a spokesperson for the Mumbai-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Discover Financial Services’ person-to-person payments service, Money Messenger, is now available to cardholders.

In 2008, glassblowing entrepreneur Jeremy Pyles outgrew his small-business banking service from Bank of America Corp. So he switched to a service offered by a nonbank, Bill.com.

The ATM Industry Association has published a best-practices guide for decommissioning ATMs at the end of their seven- to 10-year lifespan.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has updated its Virtual Wallet application for the Apple inc. iPhone to include mobile check capture, the bank announced April 11.

SIMalliance is opening its software to third-party developers in its effort to discourage hackers’ attacks against wireless devices.

WASHINGTON – Jaws were dropping around Capitol Hill last week as CUNA President Bill Cheney began a tour of Senate offices with Camden Fine, head of the credit unions’ most virulent enemy, the Independent Community Bankers Association, to lobby for delay of the interchange rule.

A federal judge last week denied American Express Co.'s bid to have an antitrust case against it dismissed.

Two more banks in India have joined a select few others that enable customers to pay their income taxes at ATMs.