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So-called stickers, or chip-and-antenna inlays that can be affixed to mobile phones or other tokens to turn them into contactless-payment devices, are showing signs of developing from a novelty to a commercial product. CPI Card Group, a card manufacturer in Littleton, Colo., expects to ship “several million” bank-card-branded payment stickers …
Read More »Time Is Short, But Revolution Money Sticks to Million-Merchant Goal
Revolution Money Inc., the upstart that bills itself as merchants' low-cost alternative to the established card brands, this week announced that Murphy Oil USA Inc. is now accepting its RevolutionCard. It's a notable win for Revolution Money as Murphy has nearly 1,000 gas stations in 20 states, most located in …
Read More »BART Pilot Results Prove Case for Multiaccount NFC, First Data Says
Results from a pilot in San Francisco involving multiple accounts on cell phones equipped with specialized contactless-payment capability show that consumers will readily adopt such technology as a form of wallet and as a way of accessing marketing content, says an executive with the processor involved in the pilot. In …
Read More »Visa Could Score a Debit Win As Wachovia Jilts Citi for Wells
Just a week ago, it looked like MasterCard Inc. was about to win a battle in its ongoing debit card war with market leader Visa Inc. MasterCard stalwart Citigroup Inc. had struck a deal to buy, with help from the government, most of struggling Wachovia Corp.'s banking assets, including Wachovia's …
Read More »MasterCard Could Catch a Break from Citi’s Deal for Wachovia
Citigroup Inc.'s government-assisted takeover of Wachovia Corp.'s banking assets, announced Monday morning, holds a debit card silver lining for MasterCard Inc. in a deal that otherwise symbolizes the radical reshaping of the banking industry after the mortgage meltdown. Citi is a predominantly MasterCard issuer while Wachovia is a big Visa …
Read More »Chase’s WaMu Deal Puts MasterCard on the Debit Defensive
MasterCard Inc., the distant No. 2 in the U.S. signature-based debit card market, scored a big win in 2005 over rival Visa Inc. when Washington Mutual Inc. said it would convert its Visa-branded debit portfolio of more than 10 million cards to MasterCard. But that gain is now in jeopardy …
Read More »Interchange: the Unheralded Benefit of Unembossed Cards
Visa Inc. this week announced it would permit the widespread issuance of unembossed consumer credit and debit cards and business debit cards. In doing so, Visa played up the advantages to issuers, including less-complex supply-chain management, quicker activation, the ability to issue cards to customers in person at bank and …
Read More »Debit Rivalry Heats up with National City, RBS Shifts to Visa
With National City Corp. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc moving portfolios into its camp, Visa Inc. scored two big debit card wins over MasterCard Inc. this week in the bank card networks' ceaseless struggle to curry issuer and merchant favor. Analysts say the payment industry can expect to …
Read More »Both Sides Claim Victory After Judge Rules in Discover’s Antitrust Case
The federal judge presiding over Discover Financial Services' antitrust case against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. for lost business from would-be financial-institution partners has disposed of pre-trial motions, setting the stage for trial in a network conflict that began a decade ago. At issue is the alleged harm to Discover …
Read More »JPMorgan Offers Insurers a Prepaid Visa Card for Workers’ Comp
The movement by card issuers and government entities to replace check-based benefit payments with prepaid cards entered a new category this week with JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s announcement it will issue a Visa card backed by workers' compensation funds. Unlike unemployment compensation, child-support payments, and other benefits that have backed …
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