Retailers

Debit card issuers’ pain could be a gain for some payments processors.

Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is adding merchant accounts and is processing more transactions for its established merchants, thanks to a well-honed sales effort and a healthier economy.

Hoping to reach out to Brazil’s 75 million unbanked consumers, Banco PanAmericano SA, MasterCard Worldwide and Rev Worldwide have launched the country’s first reloadable prepaid card for everyday purchases, the Brazil-based bank announced April 29.

UC Mobile Corp. has entered China’s mobile-payments market in partnership with Alipay, the country’s largest independent online-payment platform based on transaction volume, the company announced April 21.

CHICAGO—At least one industry observer believes increasing contactless-payment adoption could help the United States to migrate to EMV chip-and-PIN technology and eventually to widespread mobile payments.

Strong processing volume among small and midsize merchants and growth in noncard operations contributed to an 13.7% increase in Heartland Payment Systems Inc. first-quarter total revenue, to $467.7 million from $411.2 million during the same period last year. Net income was down 44.4%, to $7.9 million from $14.2 million.

An increase in transaction volume at its merchants and higher debit network fees from its bank clients helped payments processor First Data Corp. increase its quarterly revenue by 6% from a year earlier to $2.5 billion.

The fraud management provider Memento Inc. announced April 28 that Bremer Financial Corp.’s Bremer Bank has agreed to use its technology.

Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Co. soon will enable consumers to pay their electricity bills though their mobiles phones.

Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, is pushing its debit-processing network to banks and credit unions as they await the outcome of pending caps on debit card interchange fees.

The Federal Reserve Board’s July deadline for capping debit interchange is just around the corner, but MasterCard Worldwide said it does not expect to feel its effects until at least next year.

MasterCard Inc.’s profit leapt 23.5%, to $562 million in the first quarter from $455 million a year earlier, driven in part by a rise in payments. The card brand’s revenue rose 14.5%, to $1.5 billion from $1.31 billion.

MasterCard this morning reported a 23.6% surge in first quarter profits, as the number and dollar amount of debit transactions continued to lead its growth.

If 7,500 credit unions across the United States would get their members to contact their Congressional representatives, it would “help keep the pressure on” lawmakers and potentially halt implementation of the Durbin amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act, Nat Rosenberg, senior vice president of U.S. Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, told attendees at the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations Annual Conference in Las Vegas last week.

A host of new mobile payment applications promise many of the perks of near-field communication technology, without the costly hardware.

Total System Services Inc., or TSYS, is continuing to expand its presence in the merchant-acquiring industry with the purchase of TermNet Merchant Services Inc.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.–Payment-industry experts who gathered in Miami Beach, Fla., April 27 to 29 to attend the 23rd Card Forum & Expo reflected for the first time in a few years an attitude that seemed genuinely ready to greet certain disruptive changes instead of brace against them.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. would consider reimbursing financial institutions for any costs associated with reissuing credit cards that might have been compromised when someone breached the company’s PlayStation Network last month (see story).

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-If certain “conspiracy theories” have any merit, the Federal Reserve Board might be heeding signals from Capitol Hill as it takes more time to craft final debit-interchange rules, one payment-industry analyst suggested April 28 at the Card Forum & Expo in Miami Beach, Fla.

Target Corp. is testing the sale of co-branded prepaid cards with American Express Co. in more than 100 stores, the companies confirmed on Friday.