Payments

A new point-of-sale terminal from Vivotech Inc. capable of accepting Near Field Communication mobile payments and chip-and-PIN transactions could help position U.S. merchants to embrace EMV smart card technology and perhaps save them money on security-standards compliance costs, the vendor believes.

Not only are more banks offering mobile banking, more are also releasing multiple applications to try to appeal to as many types of banking customers as possible.

The U.S. credit card charge-off rate rose slightly in July, but delinquencies fell again to an all-time low as consumers continued to demonstrate discipline in making on-time payments, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report released Friday.

Rising interest in the emergence of mobile-payment technologies for smartphones appears to be spurring a gold-rush mentality among would-be developers looking to produce the next hit mobile-payment application.

SAN FRANCISCO – Wells Fargo & Co. is testing a monthly fee with some customers to offset revenue losses it expects on debit card payments.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A new study found despite declines in credit card delinquencies and the availability of cheap funds, most bank credit card issuers have not eased their underwriting standards.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. – Consumer satisfaction with credit cards increased for a second year in a row – after a considerable decline in 2009 – according to the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study.

NEW YORK – Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. yesterday reported they had closed some of their card customers’ accounts as the result of data breaches at unidentified retailers.

Citigroup Inc. has launched a mobile-rewards application with Best Buy Co. Inc. that enables its cardholders to redeem ThankYou rewards, Citi announced Aug. 18.

WASHINGTON – MasterCard reiterated its support for the two-tiered debit interchange system, its commitment to monitoring merchants, and shared how CUs can report card acceptance issues during a phone conference hosted by CUNA Wednesday.

It made headlines in Europe, but this week’s announcement that three major telecommunication companies in Germany have joined forces to bypass supporting banks in handling Mpass mobile-payment transactions is a concept not likely to quickly take hold in other countries, one industry observer says.

Eager to exploit new growth opportunities in a sluggish economy, certain payments-industry technology suppliers already are positioning themselves to capitalize on opportunities Visa Inc.’s U.S. EMV chip card initiative may trigger as participants upgrade systems and equipment, observers say.

Bank of America Corp.’s deal on Aug. 15 to its sell its unwanted Canadian card assets is the latest example of how smaller acquisitions are fueling a slow revival in the credit card portfolio sales market.

Kennesaw State University has entered into a partnership with mobile money start-up TreasureCom Financial Holdings Inc. to develop and market banking applications for mobile phones. The school, which is located north of Atlanta, also partnered has with Microsoft Corp. to establish the lab where the mobile applications are developed.

Isis, the telecommunication consortium intent on offering a mobile-payment scheme, is building out a wider range of mobile-wallet capabilities to keep up with its aggressive rival, Google Inc.

WASHINGTON – Credit unions should get a better understanding of MasterCard’s intentions regarding supporting a two-tiered debit interchange system.

SAN FRANCISCO – Smaller merchants may miss Visa Inc.’s first deadline for chip-card acceptance by as much as two years, though larger merchants should meet that deadline easily.

Google Inc.’s Aug. 15 announcement of an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings strengthens Google’s position in mobile payments, one observer says.

When Pago Mobile Inc. launched its mobile wallet with 53 merchants in Mountain View, Calif., last week, initial industry reaction focused on the smaller payments-application company venturing into turf more commonly associated with Google Inc. in northern California.

With Google Inc.’s Aug. 15 announcement of an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings, the search giant potentially has turbocharged its mobile-payment plans.