A small Oklahoma banking company is looking to an ambitious university prepaid card deployment, which also involves contactless payment, to help it diversify a prepaid service it offers primarily to the Hispanic population. Central National Bank, Enid, Okla., is issuing PIN-based prepaid debit cards to the 10,300 students, faculty, and …

Extending its reach into emerging mobile-banking and payments markets, First Data Corp. on Thursday announced an agreement with mFoundry Inc. under which the leading payment processor will offer mFoundry services to the thousands of bank and credit-union members of First Data's Star electronic-funds transfer network. The First Data agreement marks …

The nascent market for electronic transactions in self-service machines should get a sizable boost from a Federal Reserve rule change set to go into effect Aug. 6, an industry observer notes. The rule change could also foster the development of contactless transactions at these machines, laying the groundwork for payments …

Wireless card-payment devices deployed systemwide this spring by Amtrak to sell food and beverage items are making a favorable impression on passengers and boosting sales while cutting chargebacks, an executive with the national railroad says. Amtrak is now planning to start using wireless terminals to sell tickets on trains, adds …

Discover Financial Services LLC, whose shares began trading on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, is finally on its own as a corporate entity for the first time in its 22-year- history. But while the spin-off from parent company Morgan Stanley is complete, Discover's mission of gaining market share …

In the largest agreement so far for deployment of vending machines accepting mag-stripe and contactless cards, USA Technologies Inc. has been awarded a three-year contract that includes supplying card readers for up to 7,500 machines operated by Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the world's biggest Coke distributor, in cities across the country. …

San Jose, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal developer VeriFone Holdings Inc.'s outspoken chief executive, Douglas G. Bergeron, sought in an analysts' conference call Tuesday to make hay out of the current concern about cardholder data security stemming from recent breaches at retailers such as TJX Cos. (Digital Transactions News, March 29). Older …

The recent surge of interest by banks in allowing customers to view accounts, pay bills, and perform other functions via mobile phones is paving the way for mobile payments to merchants at the point of sale, according to a new research report. In particular, the report argues, mobile banking will …

Consumers are more loyal to the form of payment they prefer than they are to any particular retail brand, a situation that could work to the benefit of card issuers and processors but also merchants, a retail consultant says. In a survey cited by Gary Charboneau, president of Wakefield, R.I.-based …

Visa International Inc. on Tuesday reported that it has named Joseph W. Saunders, the card-industry veteran it selected as interim leader of Visa Inc. in February, as the entity's permanent chairman and chief executive officer as it prepares to unify its far-flung regional organizations and become a publicly held company. …