Payments

In 2009, banks and credit unions reported 41,548 suspicious activities related to card fraud, representing a 4.6% jump from 39,711 reports the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which maintains data on suspicious activity reports.

U.S. consumer credit card charge-off and delinquency rates fell once again in October as recession-related credit card losses continued to abate, according to new data Moody’s Investors Service released this week.

Omnego Inc. has launched a mobile wallet application that converts physical loyalty cards including stores’ coupons, rewards and other merchant updates into digital formats usable on mobile devices such as smart phones, the Toronto-based mobile technology company recently announced.

Bank of America Corp. is building on its mobile payments strategy with plans to issue contactless stickers to its credit and debit card customers next year.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Calling it a first-of-its-kind agreement, TMG Financial Services and Desjardins Bank of Florida, a subsidiary of Desjardins Group of Canada, have entered into an agreement to offer a consumer rewards credit card to bank clients in the United States.

WASHINGTON – With Black Friday later this week marking the official launch of the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said its 2010 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey has found that 43% of holiday shoppers will rely on debit cards as a primary form of payment, a 20% increase from 2005’s 34.3%.

The man who developed the concept for what is now the most popular social-networking website has created a mobile-payments application that relies on facial recognition to confirm a user’s identity at the point of sale.

Bank of America Corp. is planning to issue contactless payment stickers to at least some of its card customers, a source familiar with the plans said.

With sponsorship from Citigroup Inc., Billing Revolution Inc. is trying to help convert people who window-shop on their mobile phones into paying customers.

Starbucks Corp. now includes PayPal Inc.’s payment system as a funding method for its mobile payment application.

Citing fewer defaults and a reduction in overall outstanding receivables, Target Corp.’s credit card unit more than doubled its profit during the third quarter, the company announced Wednesday.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University FCU said yesterday it renewed its contract with Card Services for CUs to process its 86,000 credit and 116,000 signature debit accounts.

Near Field Communication will outlast other mobile-payment technologies such as microSD cards and two-dimensional barcodes, observers contacted by PaymentsSource generally agree.

Mobile-payments provider Zong Inc. has entered the Philippines market through partnership agreements with mobile carriers Globe Telecom Ltd. and Smart Communications Ltd., the U.S.-based company announced Nov. 17.

Mitek Systems, fresh off some major wins for its mobile technology, announced yesterday it broke into the black for its fiscal fourth quarter to the tune of a $180,000 net, compared to a $328,000 loss for the fourth quarter last year.

Recent developments suggest 2011 will be the year that mobile payments take hold in the United States in a big way.

The 200 million wireless subscribers connected to AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. may not be enough for the companies’ mobile payments joint venture to succeed; it still needs to attract large banks and merchants, one analyst says.

When a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in January, the country’s government and relief organizations used services tied to mobile phones to pay victims for clean-up work. The program sought to empower Haitians with a means to buy food and other goods and services.

Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA will unveil more details on their joint venture to create a mobile payment network, which will be financially backed by Barclays PLC and Discover Financial Services, as soon as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation, Dow Jones is reporting.

Consumers have yet to widely adopt bill payment on smartphones — a trend some say is typical of new bill-pay systems.