Payment processing

Several issuers in the United Kingdom and Ireland recently announced plans to issue contactless cards usable at several major merchants. And while one observer says few consumers see the benefit of contactless payment, more European merchants, especially quick-service restaurants, have begun to accept contactless cards.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC has signed up three new processing clients, the Cincinnati-based processor announced Jan. 24.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chase Bank USA unit does not have to battle a slew of class-action lawsuits alleging it improperly increased credit cardholders’ interest rates, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 24.

More consumers late last year chose to spend more when dining out, especially in less expensive restaurants, a new report on fourth quarter restaurant spending suggests.

Safaricom Ltd., the largest mobile operator in Kenya, is working with U.S.-based payments provider PayPal Inc. on a platform to enable consumers to pay school fees directly to institutions’ bank accounts using their mobile phones, the companies announced earlier this month.

ElectraCard Services Pvt. Ltd., a payment processor based in India, is opening its first U.S. office in Omaha, Neb., the unit of Opus Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd. announced Jan. 24.

First Data Corp. has expanded its agreement with Warsaw, Poland-based Getin Noble Bank SA to include card-issuing and payment-processing services for the bank’s contactless card program, First Data announced Jan. 19.

As transaction volume for U.S.-based online merchants increased in 2010, so did the number of fraudulent attempts, which may mean merchants should reexamine their fraud-prevention systems to fend off potential attacks, new research suggests.

SoftBank Mobile Corp. will start a Near Field Communication payment pilot with smartphones powered by Android 2.2 operating system late this quarter, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Japanese telecommunication operator SoftBank Corp. announced Jan.18.

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development has begun offering the state’s unemployed workers the option to receive unemployment benefits either through an account tied to a Visa-branded prepaid debit card or through direct deposit to a traditional bank account.

Neovia Financial PLC’s $50 million acquisition of Montreal-based Optimal Payments will provide Neovia with a “meaningful” presence in North America, the United Kingdom-based merchant processor announced Jan. 20.

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.