Payment processing

Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and several leading Canadian banks that issue their cards face being included in proposed national class-action litigation tied to a lawsuit filed March 28 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The suit alleges the card networks and their major issuers conspired to fix prices on fees merchants ultimately pay to accept cards.

Citing the proliferation of smartphone Near Fear Communication applications, NFC provider Vivotech Inc. next year plans to conduct an initial public offering of company stock to help boost its ability to build more NFC products and systems, Muhammed Khan, founder and president of Vivotech, tells PaymentsSource.

The chief sponsor of a Senate bill to delay the interchange rule for as long as two years maneuvered last night to ease passage of the controversial measure by attaching it to popular legislation on small business investment.

Banks and ATM providers have made it a top priority to integrate their ATMs with other services such as mobile payments and online banking, new survey data suggest.

Meta Financial Group Inc. could turn its recent regulatory troubles into a positive as it seeks new business opportunities in prepaid debit card issuing, an analyst notes.

Citigroup Inc.’s deal to join Syncada could boost momentum for the receivables processing network, which has announced only one other third-party bank participant.

Central Bank of Nigeria is considering introducing biometric cards in the country to combat ATM fraud, bank Gov. Mallam Sanusi Lamido noted March 24 during the institution’s monetary policy committee meeting.

Cardtronics has broken into the Puerto Rico market with agreements with credit unions to manage their ATM operations.

WorldPay UK Ltd., formerly RBS WorldPay, has extended its payment-processing agreement with McDonald’s UK, which operates 1,200 restaurants in the United Kingdom, WorldPay announced on March 24. Terms were not disclosed.

Acculynk Inc.’s PaySecure online PIN-debit payment system is now compatible with banks and credit unions on Shazam’s electronic funds transfer network, the company announced March 29.

Bank Freedom, a marketer of prepaid debit cards, has signed a new issuer that eventually will replace its existing issuer MetaBank. MetaBank notified the Newport Beach, Calif, company, a subsidiary of Prepaid Card Holdings Inc., last week that it would not be renewing its existing contract after it expires in November, Bruce Berman, Bank Freedom's chief executive, said Monday.

Citigroup Inc. plans to expand its business payments capabilities by joining Syncada, a supply chain processing network owned by Visa Inc. and U.S. Bancorp.

Tap Group subsidiary Tap e-Payment Services (HK) Ltd. will provide electronic funds transfer processing integration services to A.S. Watson stores in Hong Kong and China under a service agreement reached with Sino Payments Inc., the companies announced March 28. Tap Group is a venture partner of Sino Payments.

The Smurfs may have an important security lesson for banks and credit card networks getting into mobile payments.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. has joined the interbank funds-transfer service National Payments Corp. of India launched last fall. The Mumbai-based bank launched the service on March 24 for the bank’s customers across the country, an official at the institution tells PaymentsSource.

MasterCard Worldwide on March 28 announced a five-year “roadmap” for electronic payments in Australia that will require issuers and card-accepting merchants there to adopt its PayPass contactless-payment service beginning next year.

Visa said March 28 it is converting another $400 million of its Class B shares owned by credit unions and banks to replenish to its litigation fund that is expected to be used to pay a settlement in a pending antitrust suit.

American Express Co., going against its image as a brand for the elite, is launching a digital wallet that would make it the payment choice for the masses — in person, online and in mobile.

Mobile-payments company Monitise PLC is testing a service targeted at unbanked consumers in Nigeria that enables users to transfer funds with their cell phones.

Despite the heightened activity around mobile payments, there are still too many unresolved questions for the payment form to have mainstream success this year, one analyst contends.