Payments

While data released by the Federal Reserve indicates 99% of credit unions have not seen any decrease in interchange income as the result of the Durbin Amendment, Stan Hollen CEO of CO-OP Financial Services is urging CUs to prepare for decreases to come.

China's credit card purchase volume surged by nearly 50% last year as more online merchants began accepting credit cards, but fraud is also on the rise.

BROWNSTOWN, Mich. – Advantage One FCU has launched a new feature of its Premium Perks Rewards Program, called My Value Center, which provides online coupons and discounts as rewards.

The Russian credit card market grew to 422.9 billion rubles (US $13.4 billion) in receivables in the first quarter of this year, up 79% from 235.8 million rubles during the same period last year, with more than 14.5 million credit cards in circulation, according to a new research report released late last month by Russia’s Tinkoff Credit Systems bank.

In a deal that could enhance shopping at one of China’s leading supermarket chains, China PnR Mobile Payments Solutions Pvt. Ltd. recently announced it would provide supermarket retailer Suning Tesco Inc. with mobile-payment services.

I recently introduced the MasterCard Mobile Payments Readiness Index (see story) to a group of c-level bankers, and told them that one of our top-level findings is that it's the early days for mobile payments.

Consumer borrowing surged in March by the most in more than a decade thanks to growing demand for student loans and autos.

CINCINNATI – Vantiv yesterday said it is joining with Saylent Technologies to offer Vantiv Analytics to Vantiv credit union and bank debit portfolio customers.

Mobile payment is revolutionizing the payments industry, suggests the widespread sentiment among industry insiders and observers.

It may finally be time to start working on plans to convert the card base from mag stripe to EMV.

U.S. EMV adoption could take off quickly once acceptance reaches a critical mass, say several payments analysts who share advice on implementing the chip card.

While magnetic stripe data can easily be skimmed, criminals can't do the same from a chip card.

As EMV moves closer to implementation in the U.S., there is some debate over whether chip and PIN or chip and signature will emerge as the preferred card technology.

While some payments analysts have said mobile payments could grow quickly and prompt the U.S. to skip right past chip cards, one person suggests that the advance of mobile could actually speed the adoption of EMV.

The costs for EMV plastic are expected be higher than mag stripe, especially in the early going. But wait too long to jump in and the CU may lose transactions to competitor's EMV cards.

Aris Jerahian, VP of client relations at The Members Group, in a white paper titled "Chip Card Debate: U.S. Weighs Benefits of PIN and Signature Formats," cites five considerations for financial institutions thinking about migrating to EMV.

When cardholders believe their payment method is more secure, they use it more.

United Nations FCU migrated to EMV more than a year ago and usage on its credit card portfolio has increased 30%, while revolving balances are up 25%.

Paul Yang, CEO of Premier Community CU in Stockton, Calif., was named winner of the $10,000 THINK Prize from CO-OP Financial Services last week.

MOLINE, Ill. – Deere Employees CU said it renewed its contract with The Members Group for debit card processing.