Payment processing

China's largest mobile-network operator China Mobile is suspending its project involving an RFID-SIM, a mobile-payment technology based on the 2.4GHz standard for contactless payment, local media in China reported last week.

In what will be a landmark event for the heavily closeted banking sector in Myanmar, a private bank in that country reportedly soon will begin offering online-payment services in partnership with a government ministry.

SafetyPay Inc.’s recent partnership with Banco Nacional de Costa Rica will enable the bank’s customers to shop online more securely worldwide, Miami Beach, Fla.-based SafetyPay notes in a Sept. 15 announcement.

Mobile-payments firm RegaloCard LLC is bringing its card-based funds-transfer service to an additional 4,000 U.S. retail locations through a distribution agreement with iPayStation LLC, the companies announced Sept. 20.

MoneyGram International Inc. has agreed to offer its payment services through the processor BillingTree Inc. under the brand PaynCash.

New York lottery players could be losing more than just the price of a ticket on their weekly purchases.

The Obama administration filed two trade cases Wednesday against China, covering electronic payments and steel duties, reports Bloomberg News.

The need to diversify a merchant portfolio with small and midsize merchants that typically afford better profit margins than large merchants likely drove Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC’s acquisition of National Processing Co., observers say.

With interest in mobile payments growing, First Data Corp. and South Korea-based SK C&C Co. Ltd. reportedly plan to collaborate to enable consumers in the United States, Canada and Mexico to use their mobile phones in place of physical wallets to initiate payment.

College Of The Holy Cross’ recently announced deal with a unit of Heartland Payments Systems Inc. not only will enable students to shop on or off campus using their school identification cards, but they also may use their cards to give back to the community through the processor’s Give Something Back program.

An online payments system that could help banks compete against alternative service providers like PayPal Inc. is getting the green light from NACHA.

Fifth Third Processing Solutions, a joint venture between private-equity firm Advent and Fifth Third Bank, said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy National Processing.

Payment processor Global Payments Inc. will sell VeriFone Systems Inc.’s PayWare Mobile service in Canada, VeriFone announced Wednesday.

Wright Express Corp. has completed its acquisition of the Australian prepaid and fleet card operations of Retail Decisions Ltd., the South Portland, Maine-based fleet card company announced on Sept. 15.

MasterCard Worldwide’s Sept. 14 announcement of its agreement to enter into a payments business-development deal with China UnionPay, along with news that Global Payments Inc. has gained permission to process card payments in China, suggests U.S.-based card players may be moving closer to cracking open the potentially lucrative Chinese market, analysts say.

Card-manufacturing startup Dynamics Inc. this week is unveiling details of Card 2.0, a computing platform usable in payment cards that changes the information on magnetic stripes and erases the stripe data when turned off.

Interbank FX LLC’s recent partnership with GlobalCollect will enable the Salt Lake City-based company to process credit card transactions for its international clients, Netherlands-based GlobalCollect reported on Sept. 13.

The Bank of Namibia late last month authorized Mobicash Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. to offer a new mobile-payment service in the country, according to a Mobicash spokesperson. The service, which is scheduled to launch in October, will enable the institution’s customers to use their mobile phones to pay for goods and person-to-person funds transfers.

State-owned telecommunication operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. on Sept. 13 launched a service that enables customers who have credit cards to pay their telco bills using their mobile phones, according to a spokesperson for the India-based company.

Domestic spending on Visa-branded cards in the U.S. continued to grow during the second three months of this year, while the economy and market effects took their toll on MasterCard Worldwide.