Cardline articles from February 2006

Cardline archives from February 2006

AMEX'S RED CARD WILL HELP HIV AND AIDS VICTIMS IN AFRICA.(American Express Co. to introduce new credit card)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... American Express Co. will introduce in March the Red credit card that contributes 1% of a cardholder's annual charges to assisting AIDS victims in Africa. The card comes in a bold red graphic. American Express Red will make donations to the...

CERTEGY REPORTS RISE IN NET INCOME AS SHARHOLDERS APPROVE FIDELITY MERGER.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Certegy Inc., today is reporting net income of $36.3 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, up 2.5% from $35.4 million during the same period in 2004. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 5%, to $295.9 million from $281.8 million. For the year, net...

ADVANTA'S NUMBERS SOLID FOR QUARTER, YEAR.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Small-business credit card issuer Advanta yesterday reported a strong finish for 2005 with higher net income and more new accounts. Spring House, PA-based Advanta Corp. says its business card division's net income for 2005 was $54.2 million,...

ELAN SIGNS EIGHT CREDIT UNIONS.(Elan Financial Services)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Elan Financial Services has bought the card portfolios from eight credit unions and will offer credit cards to their members. The portfolios have a total of $30 million in card receivables, reported Elan, a Milwaukee-based division of U.S....

REDBOX EXPANDS IN NORTHEAST.(supermarkets install DVD kiosks from RedBox Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Stop & Shop Supermarkets and Giant Food stores will install Redbox DVD kiosks in over 400 of their grocery stores in the Northeast by the end of June, Redbox announced recently. Consumers use their credit or debit card to rent DVDs from Redbox...

BUMPY RIDE FOR CHICAGO'S TRANSIT SMART CARDS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... A newspaper report in Chicago this week raised questions about the durability of smart cards used to pay transit fares, a technology gaining popularity in North America and other parts of the world. A transit column in the Chicago Tribune's...

DUQUES PLANS TO EXPAND STAR BRAND TO OTHER CARD PRODUCTS.(Henry C. Duques of First Data Corp.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Among the assets that First Data Corp. plans to retain while it spins off Western Union is its Star ATM and debit network. Star continues to show promise, Henry C. "Ric" Duques, First Data's chairman and CEO, told analysts yesterday. One goal...

BRIEFS.(Parcxsmart Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Princeton, NJ-based Heartland Payment Systems Inc. said today it is making an undisclosed strategic investment in Parcxsmart Technologies Inc., the parking and local-merchant smart card payment system. Heartland gains limited exclusivity to...

PAYPASS WILL RIDE NEW YORK'S SUBWAY IN THE SPRING.(contactless payment cards being tested by Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Citigroup Inc. will test PayPass, MasterCard International's contactless payment card, on the New York City subway system this spring, Cathleen M. Conforti, MasterCard senior vice president and global PayPass product manager, tells CardLine...

DEBITMAN ADDS TWO MERCHANT ISSUERS.(Binghamton Giant Markets Inc. and HAC Inc.)
February 3, 2006... Two supermarket chains, Binghamton Giant Markets Inc. and HAC Inc., today announced plans to issue PIN-debit cards on the Debitman network. Debitman is a merchant-based alternative to bankcards that uses the automated clearinghouse system to...

JUDGE BLOCKS MASTERCARD'S SHOT AT WILDFANG.(K. Craig Wildfang, MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... K. Craig Wildfang will remain in the race to serve as one of the lead attorneys for the merchants in their interchange suits against Visa USA and MasterCard International. A judge ruled Friday against a MasterCard request in December that...

VISA TESTING RANDOM PASS CODE CARD.(Visa International)
February 3, 2006... Visa International is developing a payment card that generates and displays an eight-digit pass code that consumers would use when conducting online purchases or banking transactions. The randomly generated pass code would add a further layer...

CARDS REPRESENT A MAJOR PART OF ID THEFT.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Forty-five percent of identity fraud cases last year involved the misuse of credit and debit cards, producing losses of $19.9 billion, according to a new survey from Javelin Strategy & Research and the Better Business Bureau. The category of...

GIFT CARDS PROVE CHEAP BUT PLENTIFUL.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... More than 80% of consumers gave or received a gift card in the recent holiday season, and 81% already have used the card they received as a gift, according to survey released today by management consultant Accenture. Nearly two-thirds of...

PEMCO REPORTS HOT JANUARY.(Pemco Technology Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Pemco Technology Services Inc. had a very busy January, as five credit unions either expanded or switched their credit and debit card processing and rewards programs to the Seattle-based provider. Combined, the five credit unions have more than...

BRIEFS.
February 3, 2006... Processor Nova Information Systems has enhanced its Electronic Check Service product line to support business checks, allowing clients to use three processing methods-demand-deposit account access, automated clearing house payments and...

CARDTRONICS BUYS ALLPOINT.(Allpoint ATM, ATM National Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Houston-based ATM independent sales organization Cardtronics Inc. has purchased the Allpoint ATM surcharge-free network for $4.4 million in cash and stock. Cardtronics purchased Allpoint and its parent, ATM National Inc., on Dec. 21, 2005,...

SIMON SAYS SALES SOAR.(Simon Visa )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Sales of the Simon Visa branded gift card have more than doubled since the card was first introduced three years ago, Michelle Sullender, a marketing vice president for Simon Brand Ventures, told the Stored Value Summit today in Coral Gables,...

VISA AND MASTERCARD LOGOS ATTRACT PREPAID CARD CONSUMERS.
February 3, 2006... The mostly lower-income consumers who use general-purpose stored value cards are drawn to cards with the logos of Visa and MasterCard, Jennifer Tescher, director of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, told the Stored Value Summit...

FISERV SEES 54% RISE IN INCOME.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Fiserv Inc. reported today fourth quarter 2005 net income of $150.5 million, a 54% rise from $97.5 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues for 2005's fourth quarter were $1.1 billion, up nearly 12% from $966 million in 2004's fourth...

DIEBOLD REPORTS POOR YEAR, LITTLE CHANGE FOR 2006.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Diebold Inc. took a hit in its fourth quarter with earnings falling 76%, according to its quarterly results released today. North Canton, OH-based Diebold earned $14.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2005, down from $62.8 million in the same...

PENNSYLVANIA TREASURER TAKES ON GIFT CARDS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The Pennsylvania State Treasurer is seeking to eliminate expiration dates and fees on gift cards while the state holds $6.4 million in unclaimed gift card funds. Robert P. Casey, Jr. yesterday reported that the unclaimed funds on a gift card...

METAVANTE SIGNS CIGNA FOR FSA PROCESSING.(Cigna HealthCare Co.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Cigna HealthCare Co. will use Metavante Corp.'s MBI Benefits Inc. subsidiary to provide debit card and transaction processing services for Cigna's health-related flexible spending accounts, or FSAs. Cigna's employer clients that offer debit...

FEDERAL RESERVE INCREASES INTEREST RATE; GREENSPAN LEAVES OFFICE.(Alan Greenspan)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... As expected the Federal Reserve today raised the federal funds rate on Chairman Alan Greenspan's last day in office. The Fed voted to increase the rate 25 basis points to 4.5%, the 14th quarter-point move in a credit-tightening campaign that...

BRIEFS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The Fulton Financial Corp., a Lancaster, PA-based bank holding company with $12.3 billion in assets among 14 community banks, is joining the Houston-based Pulse EFT Association. Pulse is owned by Discover Financial Services.... CO-OP Network...

NOVA TO BUY FIRST HORIZON FOR $433 MILLION.(Nova Information Systems, First Horizon Merchant Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Nova Information Systems announced this afternoon it would buy First Horizon Merchant Services Inc. for $433 million. Nova also may make subsequent payments to First Horizon based on its performance. First Horizon reports it is the...

FIRST HORIZON FILLS LODGING NICHE FOR NOVA.(Nova Information Systems acquires First Horizon Merchant Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Merchant acquirer Nova Information Systems bought competitor First Horizon Merchant Services Inc. to "fill a void" in its hospitality industry products and services, Pamela A. Joseph, Nova CEO, tells CardLine today. Nova yesterday announced it...

BIG BANKS TEAM UP FOR SECURITY GUIDELINES.(Bank of America Corp., Bank of New York Co., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., U.S. Bancorp, and Wells Fargo and Co.)
February 3, 2006... Six major American banks have banded together to pressure computer service providers for a uniform approach to protecting customer information. Bank of America Corp., Bank of New York Co., Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase and Co., U.S....

ACI OWNER REPORTS 18% INCOME RISE.
February 3, 2006... Omaha, NE-based software company Transaction Systems Architects Inc., the parent company of processor ACI Worldwide, yesterday reported net income of $15.2 million for its first quarter of fiscal 2006, up nearly 18% from $12.9 million a year...

COLORADO STARTUP SEEKS LICENSE TO PAY.(Combined Payments Inc. to introduce a payment network called Fastlane )
February 3, 2006... Combined Payments Inc., a Boulder, CO-based startup company, yesterday announced that in April it will introduce a payment network called Fastlane in which consumers can use their driver's licenses to make purchases at the point of sale....

INTERCHANGE TRIAL COULD BE THREE YEARS AWAY.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The multitude of lawsuits filed by merchants attacking the interchange policies of Visa USA and MasterCard International could come to trial in three years, a top attorney for the merchants said today at the Food Marketing Institute's Retail...

GIFT CARD DISTRIBUTION EXPANDS.(Retail Technologies LLC signs distribution agreement)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Consumers may see more gift cards in mid-size and smaller grocery stores following a deal between the Blackhawk Gift Card program and Plano, TX-based StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC. StoreNext's ISS45 point-of-sale software now supports the...

VISA TO LAUNCH NEW AD CAMPAIGN DURING OLYMPICS.
February 3, 2006... Visa plans to rollout a massive marketing campaign to introduce its new logo and company tag phrase during the Feb. 10 opening ceremonies of the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter games in Italy. The campaign targeting U.S. consumers also includes...

BRIEFS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Two Massachusetts newspapers owned by the New York Times Co. on Sunday sent out bundles of their papers wrapped in sheets containing customer credit card and check routing information. As many as 240,000 subscribers to the Boston Globe and...

STRONG HOLIDAY GIFT CARD SALES? ASK STARBUCKS.
February 3, 2006... National media outlets are reporting that gift cards played a major role in holiday spending and that redemption of the cards significantly boosted January retail sales. However, many large merchants aren't releasing those numbers publicly. One...

CO-OP NETWORK DROPS TRM FROM SURCHARGE-FREE NETWORK.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The Co-Op Network of credit unions said Tuesday it has notified Portland, OR-based TRM Corp. it will no longer incorporate 5,000 of TRM's ATMs into the Co-Op surcharge-free ATM network. Transaction volume on the TRM machines was disappointing,...

GOVERNMENT SEEKS DEBIT SETTLEMENT FUNDS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... The United States government and the United States Postal Service are seeking to receive funds from the $3.05 billion debit card settlement in the so-called Wal-Mart vs. Visa case. Lloyd Constantine, lead attorney for the estimated 4 million...

STRONG FOURTH QUARTER FOR ALLIANCE DATA.
February 3, 2006... Alliance Data Systems Corp. reported late yesterday fourth-quarter net income of $31.3 million, a 96% jump from $16 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Revenues rose 21% to $421.2 million from $346.8 million in the same period a year ago....

AXALTO SIM CARDS TO ENABLE PREPAID WIRELESS TOP-UPS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... France-based smart card maker Axalto and U.S.-based technology firm Vesta Corp. have jointly developed a system that lets prepaid wireless phone subscribers buy additional airtime with a payment card over their phone. Deepak Jain, Axalto's...

VISA, MASTERCARD UPDATE CONTACTLESS NUMBERS.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... At least 4 million Visa-branded contactless cards have been issued worldwide, according to a statement today from Visa USA. Rival MasterCard International, meanwhile, announced that it has issued about 5 million PayPass contactless cards and...

INVESTORS SCORN ASSET ACCEPTANCE.(Asset Acceptance Capital Corp.'s sales and earnings)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Debt-buyer Asset Acceptance Capital Corp.'s preliminary fourth-quarter results released this morning revealed a significant drop in net income, falling from $12.6 million in 2004 to between $5.7 to $6.3 million in 2005. Investors reacted...

QCSI & EVOLUTION BENEFITS JOIN FORCES ON DEBIT CARD.(Quality Care Solutions Inc., Evolution Benefits)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2006... Quality Care Solutions Inc. (QCSI) is integrating its MyHealthBank Finance cash account management software with Evolution Benefits' Benny benefits debit card. QCSI provides software to health insurers and benefits administrators. The...

BRIEFS.
February 3, 2006... Fifth Third Processing Solutions announced today it recently contracted new processing deals with 19 merchants including Caribou Coffee, Luby's, Parasole Restaurant Holdings, Penske Automotive, and Talbots. The Cincinnati-based processor also...

MASTERCARD REPORTS 2005 WORLDWIDE OPERATING RESULTS.
February 3, 2006... Cardholders worldwide last year used 749.3 million MasterCard-branded cards for 19.1 billion transactions, generating gross dollar volume of $1.7 trillion, up 12% from 2004, MasterCard International reported today. The Purchase, NY-based card...

HUDSON'S BAY BUYER PLANS TO SELL ITS CREDIT CARD BUSINESS.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... The U.S. firm that is buying Hudson's Bay Co., the Canadian department store chain, also is backing a plan to sell Hudson's Bay's credit card program. "They (Hudson's Bay executives) started a process before we agreed to buy Hudson's Bay, and...

MASTERCARD PURCHASE VOLUME AT $1.2 TRILLION.
February 10, 2006... MasterCard International reported across-the-board growth in 2005 yesterday as it gears up for its initial public offering. Cardholders worldwide used 749.3 million MasterCard-branded cards for 19.1 billion transactions, the Purchase, NY-based...

TRANSACTION STOCKS START YEAR WITH BANG.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Fourteen electronic transaction-processing stocks registered a mean return of 10.5% in January, with 13 of the stocks showing gains for the month, according to Barrington Research. That return beat the 2.5% rise in the S&P 500 Index and the...

EXXONMOBIL NEEDS PREPAID TUNE-UP.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... While 99% of employees at ExxonMobil convenience stores know they sell stored value products, only 27% say they know how to activate those gift cards and prepaid wireless minutes, says David Taylor, U.S. category manager for the petroleum...

SHELL OIL TOUTS 2005 CREDIT CARD RESULTS.(Royal Dutch-Shell Group of Cos.)
February 10, 2006... Shell Oil Products US says customer use of its proprietary Shell Gasoline Card in 2005 increased 2.3% on a same-store basis over the previous year. Greg Wehr, loyalty marketing manager for the Houston-based oil company, notes in a news release...

ASSOCIATIONS DUEL OVER ONLINE TAX PAYMENT DEALS.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... MasterCard International and Visa USA are rolling out discounts and deals to their cardholders who pay taxes with their cards. The Internal Revenue Service reports that in 2005 it received 1.4 million credit card payments. MasterCard this year...

DATACARD BUYS EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER.(Ga-Vehren Engineering)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Datacard Group, a Minnetonka, MN-based card personalization equipment manufacturer, recently bought Ga-Vehren Engineering, a maker of high-speed print and packaging equipment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Card processors and issuers...

BRIEFS.(Star Markets Company Inc. accepting fingerprint-biometric payments )(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... The five stores of Huntsville, AL-based grocer Star Markets are now accepting fingerprint-biometric payments from Pay By Touch for check, and debit and credit card payments. Pay By Touch says it has authenticated $8 billion worth of...

STATE RESTRICTIONS CUT GIFT CARD PROFITABILITY.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... New state restrictions on gift card fees and expirations may be hampering distribution of network-branded prepaid cards. American Express Co., for example, has stopped distribution of its branded gift cards in New Hampshire, Rhode Island,...

PAY BY TOUCH TO OFFER BIOMETRIC PAYMENTS FROM HOME.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... San Francisco-based Pay By Touch, a biometric-payment company, says it will be offering by spring its fingerprint-scanning technology to consumers for home use when making Internet purchases, signing on to secure Web sites and conducting online...

BIOMETRICS PAYING OFF FOR C-STORE OWNER.(Kal Abhari)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Kal Abhari, owner of a Phillips 66 gas station and ExpressMart convenience store in Arnold, MO, may have hit on a solution to long customer lines and rising payment card interchange costs. In September 2004, Abhari became the first c-store...

ASTA ACQUIRES BANKRUPTCY AND DECEASED ACCOUNT SPECIALIST.
February 10, 2006... Public debt buyer Asta Funding Inc.'s stock rose slightly this morning after the Englewood Cliffs, NJ-based company announced the acquisition of VATIV Recovery Solutions LLC. Sugarland, TX-based VATIV specializes in collecting from debtors who...

COLLECTOR FINANCIAL ASSET BOUGHT.(Financial Asset Management Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Collection industry mergers-and-acquisition advisor Kaulkin Ginsberg today announced that Financial Asset Management Systems Inc., an Atlanta-based credit and collection company, was acquired by buyout fund American Capital Strategies in 2005....

JACK HENRY REPORTS GROWTH.(Jack Henry & Associates Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Jack Henry & Associates Inc., a provider of bank technology that includes debit card and ATM processing and ATM software, reported last week an 8% increase in its second-quarter fiscal 2006 revenues to $147.4 million from $136 million for the...

COINSTAR 2005 REVENUES UP 50%.
February 10, 2006... Coinstar Inc. last week reported fourth-quarter 2005 revenues of $125.6 million, up 14% from $109.8 million a year ago, and net income of $5.5 million, up 22% from $4.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. For the year, Coinstar reported...

BRIEFS.
February 10, 2006... William H. Cary was named president and CEO of GE Consumer Finance-Europe, succeeding Dan O'Connor who will remain national executive for Ireland. GE's Europe operations cover 24 countries and $70 billion in assets.... Alliance Data Systems...

CLARIFICATION.
February 10, 2006... An item in the February 10 CardLine about the sale of prepaid products at ExxonMobil stores contained statistics that reflected rough approximations of industry experience, not actual results at ExxonMobil stores. (c) 2006 CardLine and...

VISA LAUNCHES 'LIFE TAKES VISA' WITH DETERMINATION, GRACE.
February 10, 2006... Visa USA today launched "Life Takes Visa," its first new brand campaign in 20 years. The campaign and tag line is designed to emphasize the theme of empowerment, Visa reports, promoting Visa's credit, debit, prepaid, commercial and mobile...

GE MONEY CANADA AGREES TO PURCHASE THE HUDSON'S BAY CARD PORTFOLIO.
February 10, 2006... GE Money, the credit card-issuing arm of GE Consumer Finance in Canada, today announced that it has agreed to purchase the private-label credit card portfolio of Hudson's Bay Co. for C$370 million (US$321 million). The C$370 million is the net...

CHARGEOFFS DOWN SLIGHTLY IN DECEMBER.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Chargeoffs on securitized pools of card receivables decreased 10 basis points to 7% in December from the previous month, but they remain artificially high because of the rise in bankruptcy filings in early October, according to Standard &...

CONSUMERS AREN'T WORRIED ABOUT DEBTS.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Personal savings rates may have slumped to their lowest point since the Depression era, but consumers are less concerned about their debt this year, according to a survey commissioned by TrueCredit, a subsidiary of TransUnion. Indeed, many...

NEW TEAM SEEKS GOVERNMENT PREPAID MARKETS.(Fidelity National Information Solutions Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Fidelity National Information Services, formerly known as Certegy Inc., today announced a three-year exclusive agreement with Official Payments Corp. to issue Visa-branded prepaid debit cards. The partners announced that Official Payments would...

NO 'GOOD SHOW' FOR CREDIT CARDS IN THE UK.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Consumers in the United Kingdom last Thursday heard a barrage of negative news about the credit card industry. The Office of Fair Trading, chief regulator of the payments business, reported it would again investigate MasterCard International's...

EXPERIAN SOFTWARE EVALUATES DEBT PORTFOLIOS.(Experian Information Solutions Inc. launches Debt Portfolio Evaluator)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Experian's new Debt Portfolio Evaluator software is designed to give a debt buyer a more accurate picture of a portfolio's true value before bidding on the debt, the company says. The Evaluator will provide a full analysis of each debtor's...

BRIEFS.
February 10, 2006... First Data Healthcare Services and UMB Bank Healthcare Services will provide a multi-purse debit card and related transaction-processing services for SHPS Inc.'s corporate and consumer clients' health-spending accounts. Louisville, KY-based...

PULSE PROMOTES SCHNEIDER, MOVES VETERAN PAUR TO CHAIR.(PULSE EFT Association promotes Stan Paur and David Schneider)
February 10, 2006... Discover Financial Services LLC this morning announced a change in top management at Pulse EFT Association, the Houston-based ATM/debit network Discover bought last year. Stan Paur, Pulse's president and CEO, is relinquishing both titles and...

THE YOUNG LOVE PLASTIC, SHUN CASH AND CHECKS.(consumer spending and payment modes survey)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Plastic payments account for 53% of spending among consumers 18 to 24 years old, compared to 33% for consumers 45 and older, according to Visa USA. That represents a big increase from 1997 when consumers 18 to 24 used credit and debit cards for...

WEST TO DRUM UP CALLS WITH RAINDANCE.(West Corp. acquires Raindance Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... West Corp., a provider of outsourced call center and other communications services and collections-related services, acquired Louisville, CO-based Raindance Communications, which specializes in Web conferencing. West will pay $2.70 a share in...

CONSUMERS PREFER PIN DEBIT, CREDIT DROPS AT THE STORE AND MERCHANTS OWN GIFT CARDS.(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Consumers are using their credit cards less, their debit cards more and are increasingly buying gift cards, according to the 2005/2006 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences release from the American Bankers Association. The ABA released the...

LIPMAN CITES STRONG SALES FOR QUARTER.(Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Lipman Electronic Engineering Ltd., an Israel-based maker of point-of-sale terminals, yesterday reported fourth-quarter revenues of $68.8 million, up nearly 5% from $65.7 million during the same period in 2004. Lipman reported a net loss of...

THAT'S TRILLION WITH A "T" FOR VISA'S CCE.(Visa U.S.A. Inc.'s Commercial Consumption Expenditure Index)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Visa USA reports today that its Commercial Consumption Expenditure Index rose to $16.3 trillion in 2005, an 8% increase from $15.06 trillion in 2004. The CCE Index categorizes and measures spending by business in four major segments - small...

CYBERSOURCE REBOUNDS FROM REVENUE WARNING.(company expects financial results to be lower than estimated)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Traders may have out-tricked the stock market today after CyberSource Corp. reported late yesterday that it expected its first-quarter results to come in lower than estimates by Wall Street analysts. The Mountain View, CA-based processor...

BRIEFS.
February 10, 2006... Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc., the tax-preparation firm, is again offering a MasterCard International-branded, prepaid debit card that customers load with their tax refund in lieu of receiving a check. Hewitt first offered the ipower CashCard...

AMEX HAS ISSUED MORE THAN 2 MILLION CONTACTLESS BLUE CARDS.(American Express Co.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... American Express Co.'s investment in contactless credit card technology is paying off, Alfred F. Kelly Jr., group president for Consumer, Small Business and Merchant Services, said yesterday. "We have invested in this technology and are in the...

MASTERCARD MAY PUSH IPO INTO SECOND QUARTER.
February 10, 2006... MasterCard International reportedly plans to delay its initial public offering until the second quarter. In a filing last August with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, MasterCard had announced it would become a publicly traded...

TIER'S NEW PREPAID EXEC HAS HANDS FULL.(Tier Technologies Inc. appoints Armen Khachadourian )(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Tier Technologies Inc. announced today it has brought on board a long time Visa USA executive to drive its prepaid products. Armen Khachadourian will fill Tier's newly created position of vice president of strategic programs. Khachadourian...

ALLIANCE BUYS ICOM.(Alliance Data Systems Corp. acquires ICOM Information and Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... Alliance Data Systems Corp. reported today it has reached an agreement to buy ICOM Information and Communications Inc., a provider of marketing data, communications, and targeted list services. Toronto-based ICOM will become an independent...

FLORIDA COULD CHARGE TRAVELERS FOR ATM USE.
February 10, 2006... If J. Michael Brown has his way, Florida will soon join 14 other states that allow ATM deployers to surcharge non-domestic debit cardholders. Brown is president and CEO of New Orleans-based independent sales operator Innovus Inc. He has worked...

WEAK 2005 REWARDS FOR REWARDS NETWORK.
February 10, 2006... Rewards Network Inc. reported yesterday fourth-quarter operating revenues of $22.5 million, down slightly from $22.6 million in the same period a year ago. Net income in the quarter was down to $2.1 million from $2.5 million a year ago....

MAAAAYBE, SAYS SCHNEIDER.(Pulse EFT Association's new president David Schneider says Discover Financial Services LLC to launch debit card products)(Brief Article)
February 10, 2006... David Schneider, Pulse EFT Association's new president, reaffirmed his parent company's commitment to creating a national signature-based debit card product. Pulse's owner, Discover Financial Services LLC, announced yesterday that Schneider in...