Payments

Telefónica UK, Vodafone UK, and T-Mobile and Orange parent Everything Everywhere plan to form a joint venture in mobile marketing and payments, the companies announced June 16.

Intuit Inc. is among various vendors that could feel a shock from the emergence of Near Field Communication-powered mobile-payment schemes such as Google Wallet and Isis designed to eclipse banks’ existing, more-pedestrian offerings, such as online and mobile bank-account management.

First Data Corp. is working with mobile news network operator LSN Mobile Inc. to provide a mobile advertising and coupon system for merchants, the companies announced June 15.

ST. LOUIS – Lawyers for Minnesota’s TCF Bank will tell a federal appeals court this morning that the Fed’s proposed cap on debit fees amounts to an unconstitutional “taking” of its assets, in a last-ditch effort by banks and credit unions to block the Fed’s final rule.

The emerging U.S. mobile-payments market could be putting consumers at risk for fraud, and a consumer-advocacy group is urging wireless carriers to protect its customers from unauthorized transactions.

Starbucks Corp. finally has an official mobile payment offering for Android smartphones.

Regions Financial Corp. may not be the only bank planning to buy back its credit card portfolio now that the worst of the recession’s damage is receding, according to one expert who tracks credit card portfolio sales.

NEW YORK – The Department of Justice filed papers yesterday to implement the settlement of its antitrust suit against Visa and MasterCard, which will prevent the two card networks from barring merchants from steering transactions to lower-cost cards.

Verizon Wireless has brick-and-mortar mobile payments covered thanks to its participation in the Isis joint venture. But the company soon will give its wireless customers the option to charge online purchases directly to their mobile-phone bill.

The plethora of new mobile payment initiatives – the most recent being the mobile wallet project announced by Google, Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint – can be confusing for banks. What mobile payment technologies make the most sense for a financial institution to offer? In a recent interview with Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, he handicapped the three versions of near-field communication mobile payment technology that standards bodies have approved. [Near-field communication is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that enables short-range communication between electronic devices, and it’s the mechanism most companies are choosing to pursue mobile payments.] The differences between the three versions hinge on who controls the security of the mobile payments by controlling the “secure element” that stores cardholder credentials and account data and communicates with the apps.

Tyfone Inc. has received a patent for programming add-on smart cards in a mobile phone to function as a payment account.

The buzz around person-to-person payments has long been claimed by rival upstarts such as PayPal Inc., but banks are striking back, as evidenced by the ClearXChange consortium.

Barclaycard has retooled a contactless-payments television advertisement to feature use of a mobile phone to make payments in a move that could help to raise awareness of the technology in the United Kingdom. The ad first appeared June 4 during the finale of the popular television show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

China Merchants Bank Ltd. is partnering with social networking platform company Renren Inc. to issue a cobranded credit card in China, the bank announced June 13.

WASHINGTON-A bruising lobbying effort waged by credit unions and banks failed last week to convince Congress to delay enactment of the Durbin amendment that will result in major cuts in debit fees over the coming months.

GLENDALE, Calif.-"From interchange to shortchanged" is how one credit union CEO summed up the results of last week's Senate vote that defeated a proposal that would have delayed cuts in debit fees being enacted by the Federal Reserve.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-With Congress declining to delay the Durbin Amendment on interchange, financial institutions, card processors, payment systems, and merchants have a lot of work ahead to prepare for the July 21 implementation of the new debit interchange guidelines.

"It is very disappointing the Senate could not even approve an amendment to spend additional time to study and fix a bill that they previously approved without knowing what it meant," said John Rhea, CEO of the $1.4-billion Robins FCU.

Charles Schwab Corp. customers with Android smartphones can now deposit checks into their bank and brokerage accounts.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is expected to vote a final rule on debit fees a week from today, now that a credit union-backed proposal to delay the rules has been shot down in Congress.