For the major card brands, emerging global markets that broadly lack access to financial services likely will represent the greatest earnings potential for mobile-payments initiatives, concludes a report from Macquarie Equities Research Group.

Banks are focusing on customers, not criminals, as they seek to improve security outside of traditional branch banking.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced April 14 it will issue contact smart credit cards to U.S. customers in June, making it the second bank to bet that this technology, commonplace in Europe, will finally take hold in the States.

SAGINAW, Mich. – Family First CU has installed enhancements to the SunGard Availability Services’ PLANet web-based business continuity planning service.

MELROSE, Minn. – Central Minnesota FCU will implement Imprivata’s OneSign Single Sign-On and Authentication Management solution.

American Express Co. is positioning its undisclosed investment in mobile-payments company Payfone Inc. as the next step in adding additional functionality to the card brand’s new Serve digital wallet product.

Visa Inc. last week completed a trial of mobile contactless payments in Australia in collaboration with Melbourne-based ANZ Banking Group Ltd., Vipin Kalra, Visa country manager for Australia, tells PaymentsSource.

Credit scores nationwide fell two points to 665 in the first quarter ended March 31, according to CreditKarma.com, which released its U.S. Credit Score Climate Report on Wednesday.

Tenso.com, a subsidiary of the NetPrice Group Ltd., will use Retail Decisions Ltd.’s fraud-prevention service to screen its online sales, the London-based card-fraud prevention and payment-processing company announced April 12.

Wells Fargo & Co. is planning to issue 15,000 EMV cards to U.S. residents in a test this year, making it by far the largest bank to offer the smart cards to domestic customers.

KANSAS CITY – Mazuma CU has signed with Imprivata to install the company’s OneSign Single Sign-On and Authentication Management solution.

NEW YORK – United Nations FCU has signed with TimeTrade to streamline its service appointments each month through the company’s online Appointment Cloud.

Direct carrier billing is becoming more popular as consumers see the convenience and merchants are more willing to accept higher transaction fees to increase sales, contends Zong Inc., a mobile-payments platform provider.

IDBI Bank Ltd. has become the second bank in India to support cash withdrawals initiated at point-of-sale terminals, a spokesperson for the Mumbai-based bank tells PaymentsSource.

Discover Financial Services’ person-to-person payments service, Money Messenger, is now available to cardholders.

Financial institutions that are taking a “wait-and-see” approach to mobile payments risk falling behind early investors as the market begins to take shape, concludes a whitepaper from Fiserv Inc.

More than 10% of U.S. consumers had set up mobile-banking services in 2009, but a smaller proportion actually used the services, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

A federal court in Dallas has granted motions made by Heartland Bank and KeyBank to dismiss civil suits brought against them by credit unions and banks for their involvement in the 2009 Heartland Payments Systems breach.

Estimating the growth of social media and mobile channels equals a $70 billion global opportunity across banking and other consumer-facing
 industries, IBM has formed a new consulting practice to offer navigation
 expertise for companies looking to embrace the new technologies, many of 
which are offered in some form by IBM itself.

Visa Europe’s plan to annually invest 100 million euros (US$144.2 million) into mobile payments and e-commerce illustrates that the card association views the two markets as its next major growth opportunity, observes one analyst.