Issuing/Originating

MasterCard announced today its test of contactless chip cards in Orlando, Fla., was encouraging enough for the card company to roll it out to all members as a feature on MasterCard credit, debit, and stored-value cards. The company expects the expansion to begin next summer with the addition of new …

Duane Reade Inc., a chain of 241 drugstores in New York City, will on Monday become the fourth and so far the largest issuer of the Debitman card, a non-bank, national electronic payment system started last year by a group of payments veterans with roots in the retailing business. Duane …

Payment executives shouldn't read too much into the legal interpretation of a recent policy decision by Visa to exempt its members that switch their debit card portfolios to American Express or Discover–but not MasterCard–from paying exit penalties. In a letter to members, Paul Allen, Visa executive vice president and general …

Shrugging off what it called a “challenging” year that included a $2 billion legal settlement with retailers, Visa USA reported this morning strong gains in transaction volume on its credit and debit card business for the third quarter. Total volume grew almost 13% to $285.8 billion, leading president and chief …

American Express Co.'s experiment with contactless payment based on keyfobs in and around Phoenix, in progress since July, is expanding into more locations and apparently meeting with merchant and consumer approval. The ExpressPay program, which puts small keychain fobs in the hands of consumers instead of plastic cards, relies on …

Expect more big banks to follow Wells Fargo & Co. and Wachovia Corp. in switching their debit processing business from Concord EFS to Visa, according to an industry analyst. John Gould, director of consumer credit research for TowerGroup, a payments research company, says in the process of moving their debit-processing …

After an acrimonious summer in which TCF Financial Corp. first complained about the costly Visa/MasterCard settlement in the Wal-Mart case, and then complained even more bitterly when Visa threatened to levy a penalty on TCF if it switched debit brands, the Minneapolis-based bank has come to terms with Visa and …

The rate of unauthorized e-check transactions by telephone is down 88% over the last four quarters, reports the National Automated Clearing House Association. NACHA credits its ability to trace unauthorized phone payments to their source for the plunge in fraudulent e-check payments by phone to 0.15% of all third-quarter telephone …

For years, retailers have sought ways to allow their customers to pay electronically while bypassing bank networks and fees. Now some fast-food franchisees are turning to proprietary smart cards–with or without interest from their corporate parents. Los Angeles-based TranStar Systems Inc. has either installed or has orders for systems in …

Does the motion filed last week by MasterCard in federal court against Visa signal a new era of real competition between the two card companies? The answer seems to be yes, but the question is whether it’s healthy competition. The motion seeks to stop Visa from enacting a “settlement fee” …