Retailers

The National Payments Corp. of India has informed banks that it will charge remitting institutions 0.1 rupees (0.002 U.S. cents or 0.0015 euros) for every mobile transaction that flows through the interbank funds-transfer service it launched last year, the company announced March 14.

India Post, the country’s state-owned postal service, has begun enabling customers to conduct and pay for postal services online, a spokesperson for the agency tells PaymentsSource.

Many small businesses that do not use mobile bill-payment services are unlikely to use them in the near future, new survey data suggest.

WASHINGTON – Credit union and bank lobbyists hope to convince senators who voted overwhelmingly for last year’s Durbin amendment on debit interchange and may have buyer’s remorse to change their vote and approve a proposed delay.

Visa Inc. is making a bigger play in person-to-person payments by teaming with CashEdge Inc. and Fiserv Inc. for new options in money transfers to and from Visa cards.

WASHINGTON—The banking industry saw the first tangible signs of progress March 15 in its fight to overturn the Durbin amendment, as House and Senate lawmakers officially introduced bills that would delay implementation of a plan to restrict interchange fees on debit cards.

Payments-industry representatives rushed to throw support behind legislation introduced March 15 in the U.S. Senate that would delay implementation of new Federal Reserve Board rules that would cap debit interchange beginning this summer.

PayPal Inc. has paid LML Patent Corp., a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of LML Payment Systems Inc., $7.5 million to settle a patent dispute that stemmed from an infringement complaint involving 19 other financial institutions, LML announced in a press release.

Major credit card networks on March 14 announced they are waiving interchange fees charities otherwise would pay card issuers on donations cardholders make to provide support for Japanese relief efforts in the wake of the devastation caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

Google Inc.’s interest in Near Field Communication technology might be more about advertising than establishing its own payments network, observes one analyst.

Dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG, one of the top two drugstore chains in Germany, is deploying more than 3,700 Hypercom Artema Hybrid payment terminals at its nearly 1,200 retail outlets nationwide, terminal maker Hypercom Corp. announced March 15.

International energy company National Grid PLC has begun offering electronic bills to its U.S. customers through Fiserv Inc.’s e-Bill Distribution system, the companies announced March 14.

Apple Inc. boasts that its iPhone “changes everything,” but against the expectations of many bankers, it may not be changing payments–at least, not this year.

The Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland Council has begun using AppNinjas Inc.’s Swipe Credit Card Terminal for iPhone to accept credit and debit cards from consumers buying members’ cookies, the organization announced March 9.

Yespay International Ltd. has released its application programming interface specifications that merchants may use to integrate Yespay’s mobile-based services into their point-of-sale systems, the London-based payment-services provider announced on March 11.

WASHINGTON – Visa and MasterCard are telling their credit union and bank owners the uncertainty they will face over litigation costs for a pending antitrust case over the networks’ anti-steering provisions will continue indefinitely, even as the controversy escalates over the Federal Reserve’s proposed rules on debit fees.

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China UnionPay has signed an acceptance agreement with US-based Citibank that will see UnionPay cards being accepted in seven other Asian nations, a spokesperson for China’s bankcard association confirms PaymentsSource.

American Express Co.’s plans to test an application program interface that connects its cardholders with social media giant Foursquare Labs Inc. creates a “powerful combination of digital behavior and spending behavior,” David Wolf, AmEx vice president of global marketing capabilities, tells PaymentsSource.

Continued global expansion of EMV smart card programs helped drive revenue and profit growth last year for Gemalto NV’s Secure Transactions unit, which includes banking cards, the France-based smart card vendor announced March 11.