Payment processing

First Data Corp. will handle credit card processing for Kohl’s Corp.’s private-label credit cards in a multiyear agreement the two companies announced Jan. 20.

Citing the effects of fewer losses and healthy growth in new accounts and purchase volume, Capital One Financial Corp.’s credit card unit earned $586 million during the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, up 14.9% from $510 million a year earlier. Revenues were down 13.8%, however, to $2.5 billion from $2.9 billion, driven by a full quarter of lower late fees resulting from implementation of the CARD Act, Cap One reported Jan 20.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has filed suit against a local college professor over the patent rights to Square, a credit card reader that can be attached to smartphones.

The head of TCF Financial Corp., which filed a lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Board in October challenging its proposed debit card interchange rate cuts, said Jan. 20 that growing opposition to the proposal may help his case. The effort is part of a multi-pronged attack from banks on the debit interchange restrictions (see story).

EBay Inc.’s PayPal Inc. unit in 2010 nearly tripled its eBay Mobile gross merchandise volume to $2 billion from the previous year, driven by strong holiday shopping, John Donahoe, eBay president and CEO, told analysts Jan. 19 during a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

Addressing analysts Jan. 19 during a conference call to discuss fourth quarter earnings, Dan Poston, chief financial officer at Fifth Third Bancorp, noted it is too early to predict how the bank will react to reductions in debit card interchange revenue.

At first glance Xipwire Inc.'s mobile payments system seems obsolete next to competing services — its software isn't based on a sleek-looking digital wallet application on a smartphone and it doesn't rely on payment chips that turn mobile devices into tap-and-go credit cards.

Manila’s two suburban rail networks are conducting a trial in the Philippines to test the use of a common contactless smart card for their commuters.

Tanzania Posts Corp. and Vodacom Tanzania Ltd. have inked a mobile-banking agreement in which Vodacom will use the postal service’s network of branches as agents to support its M-Pesa funds-transfer service.

Acculynk Inc. has worked over the past two years to position its PaySecure product as the standard for Internet PIN-debit transactions. It now plans to bring the same payment technology to smartphones.

U.S. Bancorp had expected to wait to see how other financial institutions reacted to recent legislative and policy changes that have or will affect revenue before deciding on the course of action it takes.

Merchant processor Chase Paymentech LLC’s new Safetech Fraud and Security Solutions suite of services will rely on VeriFone Systems Inc.’s VeriShield Protect product for advanced encryption services, VeriFone announced Jan. 19.

American Express Co. is closing customer-service centers in Madrid, Spain, and in Greensboro, N.C., because the locations have become too understaffed to maintain, the New York-based company announced Jan. 19.

Starbucks Corp.’s Grande-sized mobile payments trial has gone Venti.

Chase Paymentech Solutions LLC has rolled out a suite of services called Safetech Fraud and Security Solutions, the New York-based merchant-processing unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced Jan. 18.

Gemalto NV is participating in a Near Field Communication payment pilot in Japan that launches this quarter, the France-based technology provider announced Jan. 18.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC has agreed to supply ATM and debit card transaction processing and other services to six credit unions, the Cincinnati-based processor announced Jan. 18.

Citing improved credit quality and higher overall purchase volume, Citigroup Inc. on Jan. 18 reported a $623 million profit for its Citi-branded credit card operation for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31; the unit reported a $51 million loss during the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 71%, to $4.07 billion from $2.38 billion.

MasterCard Worldwide will be the exclusive brand of the Transport for London’s Oyster card wallet as the international card brand hopes to raise consumer awareness of its PayPass contactless-payment service, MasterCard announced Jan. 17.

Global Payments Inc. will provide multi-currency processing services to merchants in the United States and Canada through a deal with Planet Payment Inc., the Atlanta-based merchant processor announced Jan. 18.