Payments

MasterCard Inc. on Aug. 3 reported net income of $458 million for the second quarter ended June 30, up 31.2% from $349 million during the same period last year. Revenues net of operating expenses totaled $1.37 billion, up 7% from $1.28 billion.

PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard reported a 31% surge in second quarter profits yesterday, fueled by an increase in international transactions, price increases and cost cutting.

Lockport, N.Y.-based Cornerstone Community Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union based in Western New York, has introduced a mobile banking service.

A mobile-payments effort seemingly designed to exclude banks may accomplish the exact opposite.

AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile USA are attempting to create a system to bypass credit and debit cards and allow consumers to pay for purchases by smartphones, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Bling Nation Ltd. has begun issuing its mobile payment stickers to employees of PayPal Inc. at PayPal's headquarters in San Jose.

Visa Inc. last week reported net income of $716 million for the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, down 1.8% from $729 million during the same period a year earlier. Net operating revenue was $2 billion, up 21.2% from $1.65 billion, driven by growth in data processing and international transaction revenue, the company said.

Mobile banking through mobile devices such as cellular phones, smart phones and personal digital assistants has more than doubled globally since 2008 with consumers in the Asia-Pacific region, Central and Eastern Europe and the United States at the forefront, new research from KPMG International suggests.

IPay POS Credit Card Terminal, the new version of the mobile-payment acceptance application called ProcessAway, now works with multiple gateways and comes with a card reader to accommodate card-present transactions, according to Randy Palermo, who developed the application that works on Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Despite rising concern in some sectors about a second economic downturn taking hold this year, it is unlikely that a so-called “double-dip recession” would cause credit card charge-off rates to spike again, Moody’s Investors Service notes in a July 26 report.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa Inc. reported profit of $716 million yesterday for its fiscal third quarter, as consumers resumed spending.

Citing positive customer reviews regarding its mobile-payments service, Starbucks Corp. plans to expand the scheme later this year, CEO Howard Schultz revealed July 21 during an earnings conference call with analysts.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has signed a partnership agreement with Mumbai-based Union Bank of India to launch a bill-payment and mobile top-up service in India, a spokesperson for the Delhi-based telecommunication operator tells PaymentsSource.

Credit card chargeoffs fell in June, another sign card losses are easing after soaring as the U.S. recession took hold, reports Moody's Investors Service.

Citigroup Inc. has told its U.S. mobile banking customers they should upgrade to a new application for Apple Inc.'s iPhone after the bank's original version was found to have a security flaw, reports Dow Jones.

Capital One Financial Corp. was stung during the second quarter by the loss of overlimit fees as a result of the Credit CARD Act, and the law’s overall effects will continue to “pressure” revenues throughout this year, Richard Fairbank, Cap One CEO, told analysts during a July 22 conference call.

CreditCall Ltd. is developing a mobile-payment application to enable merchants to accept secure chip-and-PIN transactions on Blackberry and other smart phones, the United Kingdom-based payment processor announced last week.

SCHAUMBURG, ILL.–Square Inc., a startup company offering mobile point-of-sale payment-acceptance services, is willing to talk to merchant services sales agents and other distributors, but just not yet, according to the company’s CEO.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act legislation, most of which went into effect in February, will cost Citigroup Inc. $400 million to $600 million in pretax revenue this year, John Gerspach, Citi chief financial officer, told analysts July 16 during a conference call to discuss second-quarter earnings.

American Express Co. is preparing for the future of payments.