Cardline articles from February 2004

Cardline archives from February 2004

REGULATORS REMOVE CAPITAL ONE FROM THEIR SUBPRIME WATCH LIST.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Capital One Financial Corp. disclosed late Thursday that federal and Virginia banking regulators have terminated their informal memorandum of understanding with the big McLean, VA-based card issuer. The so-called MOU involving two Cap One...

VISA, MASTERCARD SAY SUPREME COURT APPEALS ARE SEVERAL MONTHS AWAY.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Visa USA and MasterCard International say they will not file for several months their appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court that seek a review of an antitrust ruling that allows Visa and MasterCard members to issue American Express and Discover...

FIRST DATA NAMES SCHOEDINGER AS NEW CARDS LEADER.(First Data Corp. today named James L. Schoedinger as president of the company)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Greenwood Village, CO-based transaction processor First Data Corp. today named James L. Schoedinger as president of the company's Card Issuing Service unit in Omaha, NE. He will report to Charlie Fote, chairman and CEO, and will be a member of...

NPC RENEWS AGREEMENT WITH OFF-PRICE RETAILER.(National Processing Co. LLC has renewed its credit card processing agreement with Retail Ventures Inc)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... National Processing Co. LLC has renewed its credit card processing agreement with Retail Ventures Inc., a Columbus, OH, off-price retailer with stores in 29 states. The company operates Value City, Filene's Basement, and DSW stores. According...

REWARDS NETWORK REPORTS FOURTH-QUARTER RESULTS.(Rewards Network has promoted Gerald Hughes)(Rewards Network Inc. yesterday reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.9 million)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Rewards Network Inc. yesterday reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.9 million, down 17% from $4.7 million for the same three-month period in 2002. The Chicago-based company, formerly known as iDine, reported fourth-quarter sales of $89.2...

PAYMENT CONSULTANCIES MERGE.(Collective Dynamics LLC has acquired Partners Consulting Group)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Collective Dynamics LLC, an Atlanta-based payments consultancy and a research and software-integration firm, has acquired Partners Consulting Group. Also based in Atlanta, Partners provides consulting services on consumer payments and...

FIFTH THIRD SAYS SETTLEMENT COST IT MONEY.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Fifth Third says the Visa/MasterCard settlements in the merchant class-action debit card lawsuit cost it $8 million in revenue in the fourth quarter and $13 million for all of 2003. Under the settlements, Visa USA and MasterCard International...

BURGER KING PUSHES CARD ACCEPTANCE WITH "PAY IT YOUR WAY".(signed an agreement in which Burger King's management agreed to endorse Chase Merchant Services)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Burger King Corp., which coined the phrase "Have It Your Way" to let customers know they could custom-order their burgers, has changed the phrase's wording a bit to signal the launch of another innovation. The Miami-based company and Chase...

WELLS FARGO'S INTERNET PAYMENT VOLUME DOUBLES.(Wells Fargo & Co., one of the pioneers of Web payments, today reported that it processed nearly $12 billion in Internet merchant payments in 2003)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Wells Fargo & Co., one of the pioneers of Web payments, today reported that it processed nearly $12 billion in Internet merchant payments in 2003, double the level of 2002. Citing e-commerce figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, San...

WAL-MART FOLLOWS THROUGH WITH PLANS TO DROP DEBIT MASTERCARD.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... MasterCardInternational today confirmed that, as of yesterday, holders of debit MasterCards no longer can use their signatures to initiate purchases atstores operated by Bentonville, AR-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer....

WAL-MART JOINS JEANIE EFT NETWORK.(Fifth Third's Jeanie electronic funds transfer network)(Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, joined the network effective Feb. 1)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions, the processing unit of Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp, last year said it wanted to broaden the merchant reach of Fifth Third's Jeanie electronic funds transfer network. It succeeded in doing so last...

PAYMENTECH OPENS FIRST EUROPEAN OFFICE.(Paymentech L.P., opened an office in Dublin, Ireland, to support U.S. clients )(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Paymentech L.P., the Dallas-based merchant acquirer, has opened an office in Dublin, Ireland, to support U.S. clients that have European operations and to ferret new business opportunities. "The office has been opened less than 25 days," John...

FIRST DATA INCREASES STOCK BUY-BACK PROGRAM.(First Data Corp. today said it has increased its share-repurchase program by $1 billion)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Processor First Data Corp. today said it has increased its share-repurchase program by $1 billion. Adding the remaining authorization from an existing program, First Data may buy up to almost $1.15 billion of its stock, according to a company...

FIRST AMERICAN PAYMENT SYSTEMS NAMES NEW COO AND CFO.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Merchant processor First American Payment Systems L.P. has named James B. Walburg senior vice president and chief financial officer, succeeding Debra Bradford, who was named executive vice president and chief operating officer. Bradford joined...

FIRST DATA, CONCORD EXPECT TO CLOSE DEAL SOON.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... First Data Corp. expects to close its $6.9 billion purchase of Concord EFS Inc. on or before March 1, a First Data spokesperson tells CardLine today. Concord's shareholders are scheduled to vote on the merger Feb. 26, and First Data can close...

FIRST DATA'S CARD ISSUING SERVICES UNIT'S FOURTH-QUARTER OPERATING PROFIT PLUNGES.
February 6, 2004... First Data Corp.'s Card Issuing Services unit today reported a fourth-quarter operating profit of $84.6 million, down 16% from $100.6 million in 2002's fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter revenues were $518.1 million, down 1% from $523.5 million for...

U.S. DEBIT MASTERCARD VOLUME ROSE 16% IN 2003.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... U.S. debit MasterCard holders initiated 1.95 billion signature-based (offline) debit purchases in 2003, up 16% from 1.68 billion in 2003, MasterCard Inc. says in an 8-K report filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The total...

MASTERCARD'S U.S. CREDIT VOLUME GROWS 6%.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Total MasterCard International credit card volume in the U.S. grew 6% in 2003, hitting $514.6 billion compared with $485.9 in 2002, Purchase, NY-based MasterCard reported today. Credit card purchases totaled $404.8 billion, up 8% from $374.1...

BRAZILIAN BANK UNITES CREDIT AND DEBIT ON CHIP CARDS.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... State-owned Banco do Brasil, the country's largest bank in terms of assets, expects to complete the conversion of its MasterCard credit card portfolio to smart cards by the second quarter, says Macelo Leite, e-business director at MasterCard...

COURT OF APPEALS SIGNS STAY IN VISA, MASTERCARD CASE.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit signed a stay Friday keeping Visa's and MasterCard's exclusionary rules in place during the card associations' Supreme Court Appeal. The stay came two days after MBNA Corp. and American Express...

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND BUYS PEOPLE'S BANK'S PORTFOLIO.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland Group is buying the $2.3 billion credit card portfolio of Bridgeport, CT-based People's Bank, People's announced today. People's will get a 15.5% premium on the portfolio. People's is selling the...

CITIGROUP UNVEILS COBRANDED CREDIT CARD IN CHINA WITH GREAT FANFARE.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Citigroup Inc. unveiled a cobranded Visa credit card that it will begin offering in China with its partner, Pudong Development Bank Co., during a festive occasion Wednesday along Shanghai's waterfront. The ceremony included floats, the release...

HSBC'S, BANK OF SHANGHAI'S CREDIT CARD IN CHINA GETS AN EARLIER START.
February 6, 2004... More than a month before Citigroup and Pudong Development Bank unveiled their cobranded credit card, HSBC Holdings Plc and Bank of Shanghai already had shown theirs. The People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission gave...

VISA DEBIT CARDS SHOW THEIR NUMBERS IN LATIN AMERICA.(Visa International for Latin America and the Caribbean)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Visa International for Latin America and the Caribbean today announced that the number of Visa debit cards issued last year surpassed the 100-million mark, up 13% from 2002, for the 12-month period ending in September 2003. "Today, debit cards...

ADVANTA ORDERED TO PAY FLEETBOSTON $63.7 MILLION.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... A Wilmington, DE, judge yesterday ordered Advanta Corp. to pay FleetBoston Financial Corp. $63.7 million to compensate Fleet for overpaying for the purchase of Advanta's consumer credit card unit, a FleetBoston spokesperson tells CardLine...

ASSET ACCEPTANCE IPO PENDING.(Asset Acceptance Capital Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Shares of debt buyer and collections firm Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. are expected to be priced today, according to wire-service reports. Warren, MI-based Asset Acceptance is selling 7 million shares for an expected price of between $13 and...

INFICORP BUYS MID MISSOURI CREDIT UNION'S CARD FILE.(InfiCorp Holdings Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Mid Missouri Credit Union has sold its 2,500-account credit card portfolio to InfiCorp Holdings Inc., Peterborough, NH-based Brookwood Capital, which brokered the deal, announced yesterday. The portfolio has about $3.6 million in receivables....

TONGUETTE JOINS ICBA.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... EFT network pioneer, Del R. Tonguette, has joined ICBA Bancard Inc. of Arlington, VA, to direct ICBA's debit-services business. ICBA Bancard, which began mainly as a credit card services company for community banks, is a for-profit subsidiary...

TSYS CUTS WORKFORCE 4%.(Total System Services Inc.)
February 6, 2004... Total System Services Inc. announced Wednesday that it has cut its worldwide workforce 4%, the first layoffs in 20 years for the Columbus, GA-based processor. Major clients-Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc.-have sold their...

KOREA EXCHANGE BANK WILL NOT SUPPORT LG CARD BAILOUT.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Korea Exchange Bank said it will not participate in the financial bailout of LG Card Co. Ltd., South Korea's largest credit card issuer. The bank's decision deals a potentially fatal blow to LG Card's rescue package, according to wire-service...

ASSET ACCEPTANCE SHARES A HIT ON WALL STREET.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Shares of debt buyer and collections firm Asset Acceptance Capital Corp. traded at $16.50 per share at midday, up $1.50 from their $15 initial public offering price, as the stock debuted on the Nasdaq National Market today. The company is...

ADVANTA NOT SURE IF IT WILL APPEAL COURT DECISION.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Advanta Corp. is undecided whether it will appeal a Wilmington, DE, judge's order to pay FleetBoston Financial Corp. $63.7 million to compensate Fleet for overpaying for the 1998 purchase of Advanta's consumer credit card unit. "I am not aware...

PAYMENTECH SIGNS CONTAINER STORE.(processing agreements)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... The Container Store, a retailer of storage and organization products, has awarded a multi-year processing agreement to Paymentech, the Dallas-based payment processor, Paymentech announced today. The Container Store's 30 locations will...

CERTEGY WILL PROVIDE CHECK COLLECTION SERVICES FOR HOME DEPOT.(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... Certegy Inc. has signed an agreement with Home Depot Inc. to provide check collection and recovery services for the Atlanta-based home- modeling retailer, Mary K. Waggoner, Certegy's vice president of investor relations, told CardLine recently....

NPC SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH MIMI'S CAFE.(National Processing Co. LLC)(Brief Article)
February 6, 2004... National Processing Co. LLC announced this week that it has signed an agreement to provide authorization and settlement services for Mimi's Cafe, a privately-held Orange County, CA, company that operates 82 restaurants in California, Arizona,...

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT IS INVESTIGATING WESTERN UNION.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation of First Data Corp.'s Western Union Financial Services Inc. subsidiary. In a statement, First Data said the investigation is not expected to disrupt its pending purchase of...

REVOLVING CREDIT'S GROWTH RATE DOUBLED IN 2003.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Consumer revolving credit grew 3.6% in 2003, a modest growth rate by historical standards but still double 2002's 1.8% growth, according to preliminary December data released today by the Federal Reserve. The Fed says December ended with...

CHINA EXPECTED TO HAVE 75 MILLION CREDIT CARDS BY 2010.(Yuwa Hedrick-Wong estimates growth)
February 13, 2004... The number of revolving credit cards in mainland China is expected to grow from the current 1 million to 75 million and possibly 125 million by 2010, estimates Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic advisor for MasterCard International's Asia-Pacific...

CAPITAL ONE MAKES WEST'S INTERIM JOB PERMANENT.(Capital One Financial Corp)(Catherine West)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Capital One Financial Corp. Thursday took the interim label off of Catherine West's title. The McLean, VA, card issuer permanently named West executive vice president and president of Capital One's U.S. card operations. West had held the...

GLOBAL PLATFORM MULLS MERGER WITH TERMINAL GROUP.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... The GlobalPlatform smart card consortium will take up a possible merger with a group developing standards for card-reading devices at its board meeting next week in Tokyo, Bob Beer, chairman of GlobalPlatform, tells CardLine. Beer, vice...

HYPERCOM ROLLING OUT IP CONVERSION DEVICE.(Hypercom Corp. planning to introduce Internet Protocol-enabled device)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Hypercom Corp., a Phoenix-based point-of-sale terminal maker, is planning to market this year a product that can convert any vendor's dial-up terminal into a faster, Internet Protocol-enabled device, Christopher Alexander, Hypercom chairman and...

TACO BUENO, A FAST-FOOD CHAIN, OPTS FOR EVEN FASTER SERVICE.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Taco Bueno, a quick-service Mexican restaurant chain with 124 locations in Texas and Oklahoma, has dropped its dial-up payment system, opting for a wireless Internet Protocol (IP), or Ethernet-enabled connection, terminal marketer VeriFone Inc....

BARCLAYCARD REPORTEDLY IN TALKS TO BUY PROVIDIAN.(Barclaycard is in talks to buy Providian Financial Corp)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Barclaycard, Europe's largest credit card issuer, reportedly is in talks to buy Providian Financial Corp. for about $4 billion, according to published reports in the United and States and the United Kingdom. A spokesperson for Barclays PLC,...

VISA REPORTS $1.1 TRILLION IN VOLUME IN 2003.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Consumers spent $1.1 trillion with their Visa USA cards in 2003, an increase of 11.7% from 2002, and conducted 16.1 billion transactions, up 11.6%, the San Francisco-based card association reported today. The figures are for the 429 million...

VISA IS SEEING FAST GROWTH AT QUICK-SERVICE RESTAURANTS.(Consumers used their Visa cards for $6.5 billion in purchases at quick-service restaurants in 2003)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Consumers used their Visa cards for $6.5 billion in purchases at quick-service restaurants in 2003, up 103% from $3.2 billion in 2002, a spokesperson for Visa USA tells CardLine today. The Visa check card accounted for two-thirds, or $4.29...

MASTERCARD, ABN AMRO FORM ALLIANCE.(ABN AMRO Bank N.V., the Netherlands' largest bank, and MasterCard International have entered into a five-year strategic alliance)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... ABN AMRO Bank N.V., the Netherlands' largest bank, and MasterCard International have entered into a five-year strategic alliance in which MasterCard will help ABN AMRO grow its card business, an ABN AMRO spokesperson tells CardLine today. As...

BANKERS' BANK OF KANSAS SELECTS CONCORD.(Bank of Kansas will recommend Memphis-based Concord EFS Inc)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... The Bankers' Bank of Kansas will recommend Memphis-based Concord EFS Inc. and Concord's Star Network as its preferred provider for debit card processing, ATM driving and network access among Bankers' Bank's 245 community bank clients, the...

BANK ONE WILL ADD NEW ATMS THIS YEAR.(Bank One Corp. will invest more than $55 million to open new branches and add new ATMs.)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Bank One Corp. last week announced that it will invest more than $55 million in the Chicago area this year to open new branches and add new ATMs. Bank One plans to open 30 new branches and replace 550 ATMs in Chicago and suburbs. The additions...

CONTACTLESS CHIP MAKER RAISES FUNDS, TARGETS PAYMENTS.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... France-based Inside Contactless, which specializes in chips for smart cards that are waved near readers, has raised 3 million euros ($3.8 million) in new capital to help finance development of a new chip targeted at payment applications. Jacek...

FOR CONSUMERS, U.S DEBIT SYSTEM IS CHEAP COMPARED WITH CANADA'S, STUDY FINDS.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... U.S. debit cardholders saved more than $4.3 billion in fees last year because they do not operate in the same type of debit system used in Canada, the results of a recent study suggest. The study was conducted for the Pulse EFT Association by...

PROVIDIAN CONTINUES ITS TRANSFORMATION.(Providian Financial Corp. considered changing its name as part of its ongoing transformation)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Providian Financial Corp. considered changing its name as part of its ongoing transformation under new management to improve its image with existing cardholders and to make itself attractive to potential ones. "We did consider it. We put...

PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES REPORTS $5.4 MILLION FOURTH-QUARTER NET INCOME.(Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. reported late yesterday net income of $5.4 million in the fourth quarter)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Debt manager and collector Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc. reported late yesterday net income of $5.4 million in the fourth quarter, up 64% from a pro forma net income of $3.3 million in 2002's fourth quarter. Revenue rose to $23 million, up...

KOREA DEVELOPMENT BANK WILL PROCEED WITH LG'S BAILOUT PLAN.(LG Card Co. Ltd)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... State-owned Korea Development Bank said it will proceed with its planned bailout of financially troubled LG Card Co. Ltd., Korea's largest issuer, although one of LG Card's key creditors said it will not support the bailout. Rhee Sung-Kun,...

TNB CARD SERVICES PURCHASES CLOVERBELT'S CARD PROGRAM.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... TNB Card Services has purchase Cloverbelt Credit Union's credit card portfolio in a sale arranged by AssetExchange, a Portland, OR-based broker. Dallas- based TNB will market credit cards under Wausau, WI-based Cloverbelt's name, and Cloverbelt...

NPC BOOKS BORDERS AND IT'S MUSIC TO NPC'S EARS.(National Processing Co. LLC today announced that it has signed a multi-year card-processing agreement with Borders Group Inc)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... National Processing Co. LLC today announced that it has signed a multi-year card-processing agreement with Borders Group Inc., an Ann Arbor, MI-based national retailer of books, music and movies PC, the Louisville, KY-based subsidiary of...

PERFECT PLASTIC NAMES MANUFACTURING DIRECTOR.(Perfect Plastic Printing Corp. has named Mike Fox as executive director of manufacturing)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Plastic card manufacturer Perfect Plastic Printing Corp. has named Mike Fox as executive director of manufacturing. Fox, who has 24 years of experience in printing and manufacturing management, comes to St. Charles, IL-based Perfect Plastic...

MASTERCARD RAISING CREDIT INTERCHANGE.(MasterCard International Inc)
February 13, 2004... MasterCard International will raise interchange rates for its U.S. consumer and corporate credit cards starting April 2, CardLine has learned. The new rates appear to be aimed at giving issuers a revenue advantage for issuing MasterCard instead...

VISA DECLARES INTERCHANGE WAR.
February 13, 2004... Visa USA is poised to raise its credit card interchange rates in response to the increases MasterCard International disclosed yesterday, CardLine has learned. The MasterCard rates, due to take effect April 2, will earn a card issuer up to 8%...

4 Million.
February 13, 2004... InterCept Inc. reported today it has signed a letter of intent to sell its InterCept Payment Solutions merchants-services division for $37.4 million. Buyers include John M. Perry, CEO of the division, other managers and a third-party...

INTERAC CONTENDS PULSE RELEASE 'INCONSISTENT' WITH REPORT.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... An executive at Interac, Canada's debit network, says a press release the Pulse EFT Association put out earlier this week that suggested U.S. consumers saved $4.3 billion last year because the Canadian debit system is not used here does not...

U.K. CARD TRANSACTIONS SET RECORD IN DECEMBER.(Credit and debit card transactions set a record in the United Kingdom during December)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Credit and debit card transactions set a record in the United Kingdom during December, the Association of Payment Clearing Services, a London-based trade association for the U.K.'s payments industry, reported today. In December, there were 519...

STANDARD CHARTERED IS NOT IN A RUSH TO ISSUE CARDS IN CHINA.(Standard Chartered PLC will wait until January 2007)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Standard Chartered PLC, one of the largest credit card issuers in Asia, probably will wait until January 2007, when mainland China fully opens its market to retail banking, before issuing cards there. "We would be able to deal with Chinese...

Credit quality remains stable in December.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... The credit quality of pools of securitized receivables remained stable in December, with chargeoffs unchanged from November at 7.0%, according to Standard & Poor's Credit Card Quality Index. The December rate was 10 basis points higher than in...

CIBC INTRODUCES "EVERYDAY SPEND" VISA REWARDS CARD.(Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has begun issuing the CIBC Aero Classic Visa card)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's largest Visa issuer, has begun issuing the CIBC Aero Classic Visa card, a rewards card, Ernie Johannson, CIBC's vice president of marketing and business development, tells CardLine. CIBC charges a...

AMEX MAY BE A TOP CONTENDER TO BUY NYCE NETWORK.(American Express Co)
February 13, 2004... American Express Co. may be one of two top contenders in the running to purchase the NYCE EFT network as First Data Corp. tries to sell its majority interest in the Montvale, NJ-based company. John C. Gould, director of consumer lending and...

JUDGE ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST PROCESSORS.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... A U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix has issued a preliminary injunction barring Phoenix-based First American Payment Processing Inc., CET Corp. and Check Processing Center LLC from processing automated clearinghouse debits on behalf of...

CREDIT CARDS BEEF UP ARBY'S SALES.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Credit card purchases at the Arby's roast beef restaurants that accept cards have doubled to 7% of sales in the18 months ending in August, according to Chase Merchant Services, LLC. A credit card sale is typically between $9 and $12 compared...

ASIA OFFERS CARD ISSUERS REWARDS BUT A LOT OF RISK.(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... The lack of sufficient credit information about credit card applicants has led to high delinquency and chargeoff rates in Asia, Datamonitor Plc, a London-based business-information company, reports today. In "Revenue vs Risk in Asian Credit...

A HAPPY ENDING TO 2003 FOR SMART CARD VENDORS.(Gemplus International SA and Oberthur Card Systems reports fourth quarter results)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... Two major smart card suppliers have reported strong results for the fourth quarter of 2003. Oberthur Card Systems today reported what it called "the best quarterly performance in the past two years," including revenue of 121.4 million euros...

DESPITE DO-NOT-CALL, APAC EEKS OUT A PROFIT INCREASE.(APAC Customer Services Inc reported fourth-quarter net income of $555,000, up 35% from $410,000 a year earlier)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... APAC Customer Services Inc., one of the largest third-party teleservices vendors serving the card industry, late Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net income of $555,000, up 35% from $410,000 a year earlier. On a per-share basis, however,...

MASTERCARD REMINDS MEMBERS TO BE VIGILANT FOR SUSPECT TRANSACTIONS.(MasterCard International preventing the use of MasterCard cards for illegal activities)(Brief Article)
February 13, 2004... MasterCard International today said that it has issued a bulletin to its members worldwide reminding them of association standards aimed at preventing the use of MasterCard cards for illegal activities. The bulletin notes that MasterCard can...

CUPID COMES ARMED WITH SMART CARDS IN INDIA.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... Tomorrow, Valentine's Day, will see the second of this week's two lavish weddings in India hosted by Subroto Roy, founder of the $10 billion Sahara conglomerate. Roy has engaged a staff of 5,000 to serve 15,000 guests at the weddings of his two...

CHARGEOFFS DECLINED IN DECEMBER.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... Chargeoffs on securitized pools of credit card receivables declined in December for the first time since March 2003, according to Moody's Investors Service Credit Card Credit Indexes. The chargeoff rate fell to 6.7% of receivables from 6.9% in...

VISA'S RETAIL VOLUME IN CHINA TOPPED $1 BILLION IN 2003.
February 20, 2004... Visa's annual retail sales volume in mainland China topped the $1 billion mark last year, the first time this has occurred since Visa opened its office there in 1993, Albert Shiung, vice president and country manager for Visa International in...

CHINESE BANKS ARE LIMITED TO CHARGING 18% ON UNPAID CARD BALANCES.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has limited banks to charging a fixed 18% on unpaid credit card balances, Albert Shiung, vice president and country manager for Visa International in China, tells CardLine. "Banks cannot charge...

NYCE SWITCHES MONEY THROUGH ATMS AND OVER THE INTERNET.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... The NYCE EFT network has begun switching account-to-account money transfers between several NYCE-connected financial institutions. through ATMs and the Internet. The so-called A2A transactions were initiated by customers of the American Eagle...

FOR YOUR OSCAR CONSIDERATION, A MASTERCARD TRILOGY.(commercial triology)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... MasterCard International will air a commercial trilogy during the 76th Annual Academy Awards Feb. 29, a spokesperson for the association tells CardLine today. The three 30-second commercials are about a lost dog trying to find his way home...

FIRST DATA CLEARS ONE HURDLE FOR PROPOSED PURCHASE.(Cashcard Australia Limited)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has told First Data Corp. that it will not oppose First Data's proposed purchase of Cashcard Australia Limited, the country's leading merchant ATM deployer. "We are pleased to pass this...

Congress passes tougher compliance law for telemarketers.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... Congress has passed legislation requiring tougher compliance by telemarketers of the Federal Trade Commission's do-not-call registry. According to Congress' 2004 appropriations bill, telemarketers subject to the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule...

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES SMART CARD GUIDELINES.(Federal Identity and Credentialing Committee )(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... A government agency last week released guidelines for developing federal identification systems for smart cards. The Federal Identity and Credentialing Committee (FICC) wrote the guidelines to establish a common federal ID card that could be...

MAGIC'S IN THE CARDS.(Magic Johnson to advertise for MagicCash prepaid card)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... Former National Basketball Association star Earvin "Magic" Johnson next Tuesday will join in announcing the launch of the MagicCash card, a prepaid card designed for the underbanked and credit challenged. The Visa-branded card, which is being...

MILEAGE PLUS CARDHOLDERS CAN EARN MILES BY PAYING TAXES WITH THEIR CARD.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... United Mileage Plus Visa cardholders can earn double miles if they use their card to pay their state and federal personal income taxes, card issuer Bank One Corp. and United Air Lines Inc. announced today. The deal is part of United's and Bank...

MOSAIC SOFTWARE ADDS CUSTOMERS.(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... Mosaic Software Inc. says the firm added 42 new users of its Postilion EFT transaction-switching software in 2003. Some 62% of the new clients were in North America, and the majority of them are using Postilion to drive ATMs, Johann (cq)...

TNB SIGNS AGENT-BANK AGREEMENTS WITH FIVE CREDIT UNIONS.(TNB Card Services)(Brief Article)
February 20, 2004... TNB Card Services, a Dallas-based bank owned by credit unions, today announced that it has signed agent-bank agreements with five credit unions after purchasing their card portfolios. Four of the credit unions are - Cloverbelt Credit Union in...