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Because of the efficiency, savings, and convenience they bring to a system traditionally choked with paper, debit cards linked to flexible-spending accounts (FSAs) are turning into a hot growth market in electronic payments. Issuers will put 6 million of the cards in circulation in 2006, up 50% over last year …
Read More »ECOM Finds Issuer for Anonymous, Disposable Prepaid MasterCard
ECOM Financial Corp., which has developed a disposable, anonymous prepaid card that works on the MasterCard network, has taken a step toward commercialization by reaching an issuing agreement with First Bank of Delaware, Wilmington, Del. In an announcement released Monday, the Stuart, Fla.-based company, which has had the card in …
Read More »A BankAmericard Redux Poses Risks But Could Reap Rewards for BofA
The possibility that Bank of America Corp. could start its own payment card network and brand poses some big risks and would bring big expenses for the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant, though it could enable BofA to differentiate itself in a mature card industry, analysts say. Reports that BofA chairman, …
Read More »TSYS CEO Says Processor Will Build on Ties to Defecting Clients
Putting his best spin on a tough situation, processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) chief executive Philip W. Tomlinson today said he regards the credit card industry’s top three issuers as prospects for future business, even as all three begin or plan to take tens of millions of accounts off …
Read More »As Banks Reissue Debit Cards, Experts Warn of More Compromises
More banks are reissuing debit cards as suspect transactions pop up throughout the United States and other countries, according to media reports this week. Investigators believe many of the transactions could be related to a security breach at a merchant facility in California that happened late last year, but the …
Read More »Chase Rolls out a Prepaid Visa for Low-Income Tax-Refund Recipients
In a new twist on stored-value plastic, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is issuing Visa-branded debit cards to low-income recipients of tax refunds. Working with Volunteer Income Tax Assistance offices in 16 cities, Chase expects the cards to help recipients who qualify for refunds under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) …
Read More »How Interchange Wars Are Lending Impetus to Instant Issuance
Heightened tensions over interchange fees are helping to fuel expansion in the market for so-called instant issuance of payment plastics. Englewood, Colo.-based Dynamic Card Solutions, which produces software that lets banks issue Visa- and MasterCard-branded debit cards on the spot to customers, says its revenue grew 53% in 2005, without …
Read More »Discover Unveils a Signature Debit Card, Though No Issuers Yet
Morgan Stanley's Discover Financial Services LLC today launched a signature-based debit card, dubbed Discover Debit, as the second major prong in its debit card offensive. Because signature-based debit delivers higher income to issuers than PIN debit, observers have looked for such a product from Discover ever since the Riverwoods, Ill.-based …
Read More »Seeking More Issuers, Debitman Finds Two Among the Supermarkets
Debitman Card Inc., which has been seeking issuers for its PIN debit processing network, announced two this week. Binghamton Giant Markets Inc. and HAC Inc., both regional supermarket chains, have agreed to issue cards on Debitman's network. HAC, which runs 67 stores in Oklahoma and Kansas, has begun issuing Debitman …
Read More »Citi Will Issue Contactless Tokens for N.Y. Mass Transit Test This Spring
Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank, which last year announced it would issue contactless tokens linked to customers' credit and debit card accounts in the New York metropolitan area, is now allowing those devices to be used in a test of radio-frequency-based electronic fare payments by the Metropolitan Transit Authority's MTA New York …
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