Payment processing

PARIS–The official unveiling this week of the Open Standard Public Transport Alliance, which is developing an open security standard for mass-transit fare-collection systems, illustrates the type of broad collaboration needed to advance the payments industry, its participants suggest.

PARIS–The security of smart cards has as much to do with the financial payoff that hackers stand to gain from unraveling the data inside them as it does protecting the technology.

Green Dot Corp. has seen interchange revenue from its active prepaid debit cards rise 95.6 % during a 21-month span, according to PaymentsSource data.

MasterCard Worldwide has added two services to its existing fraud-detection system, enabling card issuers in the United States and parts of Europe, including Ireland and the United Kingdom, to protect cardholders and reduce fraud-related costs, MasterCard announced on Dec. 7.

MasterCard Worldwide is in the process of suspending payments to WikiLeaks, according to a spokesperson for the card brand.

A newly announced mobile phone running Google Inc.’s Android software contains the hardware groundwork for mobile payments.

Prepaid card provider Blackhawk Network is expanding its digital-content payment offerings internationally at a time when services such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes and online-gaming websites gain more users, observers note.

Co-Op Financial Services announced it has teamed with mFoundry to offer mobile deposits, allowing members to “snap and deposit” checks from anywhere using their mobile phones.

Vivotech Inc. and Monitise PLC have formed a partnership to bring mobile-payment services to banks within the United States, London-based Monitise announced Dec. 7.

PARIS–Visa Inc. is making mobile payments a standard feature offering for its partner banks by moving into commercialization with a system it has been testing with four of the largest U.S. issuers.

Financial institutions looking to make up for revenue lost should debit card interchange rates dramatically drop next year could target what increasingly has become a thorn in their side: third party automated clearinghouse debits from their customers’ checking accounts, new research suggests.

(This article contains some corrected information.)

Motorists in Dubai reportedly are upset about the new mParking service launched by the Road Transport Authority of Dubai because of its limited functionality. The service enables motorists to pay for their parking lot tickets by sending a text message from their mobile phones.

More than 450 C&A Mode KG fashion-retail stores in Germany plan to deploy 2,700 Hypercom Corp. Artema Hybrid point-of-sale terminals, Hypercom announced Dec. 6.

The majority of companies are using outdated methods to reach customers and fail to take individual preferences into account, according to a survey of retail banking industry and customer communication trends.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. has agreed to make Heartland Payment Systems Inc.’s SmartLink payment system available to its 6,500 Citgo retailers, payment processor Heartland announced Dec. 2.

VeriFone Systems Inc. is planning major investments in payment terminals with contactless readers built in as wireless carriers, card networks and banks proceed with mobile-payments initiatives.

Singapore’s telecommunication regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, has issued a “call for collaboration” seeking participation in the deployment of an interoperable Near Field Communication payments infrastructure in the country.

Advent International and Bain Capital have completed their acquisition of a majority interest in RBS WorldPay, the payment-processing arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the two private equity firms announced Dec. 1.

Visa Europe is implementing ValidSoft Ltd.’s fraud-prevention technology, which uses the location of a consumer’s mobile phone to help prevent credit and debit card fraud, the card brand announced late last month.