Payments

WASHINGTON – Credit union and banking lobbyists were confident last night they were moving closer to the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to delay the debit fee rule, but the measure was not expected to be attached to a sure-thing small business bill being debated yesterday.

A San Francisco-based company on March 30 announced its introduction of a modular set of software frameworks and applications designed to facilitate deployment of Near Field Communication payments and other contactless services by resolving fragmentation and interoperability issues affecting NFC software and hardware installations.

Google Inc. is joining the NFC Forum, a nonprofit association that sets technical specifications for how businesses use Near Field Communication technology for payments applications and other services.

Gemalto NV is offering a software package for MasterCard Worldwide’s PayPass contactless payment system, the chip maker announced March 30.

Citing the proliferation of smartphone Near Fear Communication applications, NFC provider Vivotech Inc. next year plans to conduct an initial public offering of company stock to help boost its ability to build more NFC products and systems, Muhammed Khan, founder and president of Vivotech, tells PaymentsSource.

Bank of America Corp. is looking to hire new executives to lead its retail online and mobile-banking efforts, including those for mobile payments, the company confirmed to PaymentsSource.

Certain effects of the economic downturn have begun to ease, but one recession-hatched trend persists: Cash-strapped consumers continue to show a preference for paying their credit card bills over their mortgages, according to new data TransUnion LLC released Tuesday.

WASHINGTON – The chief sponsor of a Senate bill to delay the interchange rule for as long as two years maneuvered last night to ease passage of the controversial measure by attaching it to popular legislation on small business investment.

Financial-technology provider COCC, formerly Connecticut On-Line Computer Center Inc., is working with mFoundry Inc. to provide mobile-banking services to its bank clients, the companies announced March 28.

The Smurfs may have an important security lesson for banks and credit card networks getting into mobile payments.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. has joined the interbank funds-transfer service National Payments Corp. of India launched last fall. The Mumbai-based bank launched the service on March 24 for the bank’s customers across the country, an official at the institution tells PaymentsSource.

The CardTronics ATM Branding Program allows credit unions to place their name on existing ATMs — and their transaction screens — in popular stores such as Walgreens and CVS.

WASHINGTON — It's unlikely any piece of federal legislation has led to as much debate and predictions of significant hardships for credit unions as the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank bill.

American Express Co., going against its image as a brand for the elite, is launching a digital wallet that would make it the payment choice for the masses — in person, online and in mobile.

Mobile-payments company Monitise PLC is testing a service targeted at unbanked consumers in Nigeria that enables users to transfer funds with their cell phones.

Despite the heightened activity around mobile payments, there are still too many unresolved questions for the payment form to have mainstream success this year, one analyst contends.

Though Google Inc. has yet to deliver on a true near-field communication payment phone, it is rumored to be working with key players on the acceptance side.

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU teamed up with three valley gas stations on Friday to give away 10 gallons of free gas to 150 members.

Ukash, a United Kingdom-based firm that sells prepaid vouchers for online shopping, believes a new free Apple Inc. iPhone application finally can help it break into the United States market after establishing its payment method in more than 50 other countries.

With the emergence of smartphones, the next evolution in point-of-sale transaction processing has begun, fueled by devices not designed for the POS environment yet becoming increasingly popular nonetheless.