MasterCard Inc. announced April 27 it has appointed Marcie Verdin as its group head for global person-to-person payments.

MoneyGram International Inc. announced April 28 that its net income rose 30% to $14 million in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla.-Poor service from a credit card service independent sales organization helped convince James McKelvey to co-found Square Inc., the exec told attendees on April 27 at the 23rd annual Card Forum and Expo co-sponsored by PaymentsSource and the American Banker in Miami Beach, Fla.

WASHINGTON — For consumers, convenience and rewards are the most commonly discussed benefits of near field communication for mobile payments. There is also a substantial security benefit, though banks are reluctant to let consumers know.

EBay Inc.’s PayPal Inc. unit during the first quarter March 31 continued to expand its global foot print while its other payment unit, Bill Me Later, became a more mainstream payment method in the U.S. with 42% growth to $324 million from $228 in total payments volume.

There are more indications that card data was obtained by fraudsters after the data breach at Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Network.

The opportunity to capitalize on the explosive growth in payments as the industry steadily moves to electronic and mobile platforms is attracting many new players and business models, but the winners ultimately will be those who can leverage payments on a massive scale, according to Citigroup Inc.’s top enterprise executive.

Visa Inc. has invested an undisclosed amount of money in Square Inc., the start-up company that lets merchants accept card payments through a small square-shaped device that plugs into smartphones.

Existing payments-industry giants are at risk of becoming obsolete if they do not begin experimenting soon with new payments technologies and finding innovative partnerships to meet the changing marketplace demands, according to Dan Schulman, group president for enterprise growth at American Express Co.

ONTARIO, Calif. – Financial Service Centers Cooperative said yesterday it is reducing fees on its MyCUAnywhere text banking transactions to 35 cents per transaction.

SAN FRANCISCO – Visa said yesterday it has invested in Square, a mobile payments start-up founded by the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that turns phones and iPads into credit card readers.

EBay Inc.’s payment unit, which includes PayPal Inc. and Bill Me Later, experienced a strong first quarter, eBay reported this afternoon.

MoneyGram International said April 26 that it will soon introduce a cash-to-account transfer service in the Philippines.

Thirteen percent of loans modified through the Home Affordable Modification Program in the first half of 2010 were 60 days delinquent after six months, compared with 24% of loans in alternative programs, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said in a recent report.

USA Technologies Inc., a payments-service provider to vending machine operators, is aiming to get more merchants connected to its services through a partnership with Verizon Wireless.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that a Houston business owner and his debt repair companies must pay $13.8 million for committing fraud against hundreds of Texans.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Tyfone launched the first solution from a third-party vendor that allows any consumer with a mobile device to enroll in, and then use, mobile banking directly from a handset.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT FCU has implemented Integrated Media Management’s TotaleAtlasWeb remote signature capture and document delivery solution as part of a strategy to provide a true virtual branch.

The average charge-off rate on U.S. consumer credit cards fell in March, resuming its general trend of improvement after a slight uptick in February, and account-delinquencies also declined, according to new data Moody’s Investors Service released April 25.

ATLANTA – VSoft Corp., the maker of popular image exchange and remote capture technology, unveiled its own core processing system today for credit unions.