Payment processing

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.

Though Google Inc. has yet to deliver on a true near-field communication payment phone, it is rumored to be working with key players on the acceptance side.

Ukash, a United Kingdom-based firm that sells prepaid vouchers for online shopping, believes a new free Apple Inc. iPhone application finally can help it break into the United States market after establishing its payment method in more than 50 other countries.

Barclays PLC continues to dominate the United Kingdom’s contactless-payment market, claiming 88% of the UK’s total base of 12.9 million contactless debit and credit cardholders as of the beginning of the year, according to data the company released March 24.

LexisNexis has launched Retail Fraud Manager, a platform designed to help online merchants detect and combat card-not-present fraud by automating and analyzing the transaction-review process, the company announced March 23.

Litle & Co.’s Web-based merchant clients may begin to protect themselves against card-not-present fraud through CyberSource Corp.’s Decision Manager online fraud-prevention service, CyberSource announced March 23.

NetSpend Holdings Inc. is continuing to expand distribution of its prepaid cards through automobile insurers with a new marketing agreement it announced March 24.

With the emergence of smartphones, the next evolution in point-of-sale transaction processing has begun, fueled by devices not designed for the POS environment yet becoming increasingly popular nonetheless.

Three men who traveled to Honolulu from California last fall were charged with setting up card skimming devices at at least four local gas stations, then using the information to create counterfeit cards on six local credit unions and banks.

Telefónica O2 Germany GmbH’s customers now may purchase virtual and physical goods online using their mobile-phone number through a partnership the wireless carrier announced with Boku Inc. March 24.