Cardline articles from February 2008

Cardline archives from February 2008

EXPERTS: CONSUMERS LIKELY TO USE STIMULUS REBATE TO PAY DOWN CARDS.
February 1, 2008... Financial advisors and credit card analysts say consumers are likely to pay down high-interest credit card debts with the tax rebates Congress and the Bush administration may offer to stimulate the economy. The White House and Congressional...

THE HOME DEPOT SCRAPS PLANS TO BUY BANK.
February 1, 2008... The Home Depot Inc. is scrapping plans to buy a bank that the home improvement center hoped to use to expand services to construction contractors. The Atlanta-based retailer this week withdrew its application to purchase Salt Lake City-based...

MASTERCARD CLEAR DEAL OFFERS SPEEDIER AIRPORT SECURITY OPTION.
February 1, 2008... MasterCard Worldwide now gives its U.S.-issuers the option of offering credit and debit cardholders participation in Clear, an airport security fast-lane service operated by New York-based Verified Identity Pass Inc. at 13 airports in the...

FIDELITY NATIONAL TO PROVIDE BACK-OFFICE SERVICES FOR PIPELINE DATA.(Fidelity National Information Services Inc. receives contract from Pipeline Data Inc.)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Transaction processor Fidelity National Information Services Inc. will provide back-office merchant-processing services for Pipeline Data Inc., under a five-year agreement announced this week. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity will provide the...

BERMAN HOLDINGS BUYING MERCHANT PROCESSING INTERNATIONAL.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Berman Holdings Inc., a Las Vegas-based owner of a marketing services company, is buying Merchant Processing International Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based independent sales organization. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal or a...

BRIEFS.(Women Networking in Electronic Transactions launched a career center on its Web site)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Women Networking in Electronic Transactions, an association for women in the payments industry, has launched a career center on its Web site, www.w-net.biz, where members can search for job postings....TD Canada Trust announced Thursday it...

BLACKSTONE GROUP'S PURCHASE OF ALLIANCE DATA FALLS THROUGH.(Alliance Data Systems Corp. (Dallas, Texas))(The Blackstone Group)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Alliance Data Systems Corp. today announced The Blackstone Group is unable to make good on a $7.8 billion offer to acquire the Dallas-based transaction processor. Alliance Data Systems says in a news release that it received notice Friday...

U.S. BANK TESTS MASTERCARD MOBILE-PHONE PAYMENTS IN SPOKANE.
February 1, 2008... MasterCard Worldwide and U.S. Bancorp today announced a contactless mobile payment trial in Spokane, Wash., using MasterCard's PayPass technology with Nokia phones equipped with Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. During the test, users...

PHILLY WANTS VERIFONE TO IMPROVE TAXI CARD-ACCEPTANCE NETWORK.( Philadelphia Parking Authority )(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The Philadelphia Parking Authority has asked Verifone Transportation Systems to improve the reliability of the network and equipment used by city taxis to receive dispatching text messages and directions, to meter rides, and to route credit...

SIGNAPAY OFFERS CASH ADVANCES TO ISO INDUSTRY.(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... SignaPay Ltd. has unveiled a plan under which ISOs and agents can receive cash without having to sell their portfolios. The Irving, Texas-based ISO's "Signaficant Share Program" can be likened to a merchant cash advance, where a business pays...

NATION'S BIGGEST BANK-OWNED ATM NETWORK CONTINUES TO GROW.
February 1, 2008... Bank of America, which operates the nation's largest bank-owned ATM network according to the ATM&Debit News EFT Data Book, had 18,753 branded ATMs at the end of last year, according to its fourth-quarter 2007 financial report. The number of...

PIPELINE DATA ATTRACTS FIRST LENDER IN PROPOSED $177M FINANCING.
February 1, 2008... Pipeline Data Inc., a Quincy, Mass.-based payment processor, says it has lined up the first lender in an effort to raise $177 million in financing. Pipeline Data says the lender will act as the lead and sign up additional lenders. Pipeline Data...

GERMAN COMPANY SELECTS FIRST DATA FOR PREPAID CARD PROCESSING.
February 1, 2008... Denver-based transaction processor First Data Corp. has signed an agreement to help Germany-based Cadooz AG, which sells corporate gift vouchers, convert to using prepaid cards to distribute funds instead of paper checks. A First Data...

BRIEFS.
February 1, 2008... Postilion, a division of S1 Corp. and provider of self-service banking and payment processing products, announced today that its data center complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.... Paypal, the online transaction...

AMEX REPORTS STEEP DECLINES IN FOURTH-QUARTER CARD INCOME...(American Express Co.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... American Express Co. yesterday reported fourth-quarter net income of $831 million, down 9.9% from $922 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. Revenue was $6.42 billion, up 9.9% from $5.84 billion during the same quarter a year earlier. The...

...AND REPORTS CHARGE-OFFS ROSE 45% IN 2007.(American Express Co. increases prices of lending as incured loss)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Credit card issuer American Express Co. late Monday reported fourth-quarter net charge-offs in Worldwide Cardmember Lending of $813 million, up 46% from $557 million in the same three months of 2006. For the full year, AmEx reported net...

SAN FRANCISCO TESTS MOBILE PAYMENTS FOR TRANSIT AND FOOD.(Bay Area Rapid Transit uses samart phones for all transactions)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District today is testing technology that enables commuters to pay fares and purchase food with their cell phones. Using Sprint phones embedded with a microchip, 230 commuters can pay for their ride on...

WINCOR NIXDORF DEPLOYING BULK-CASH ATMS FOR JP MORGAN CHASE.
February 1, 2008... Wincor Nixdorf USA has begun deploying bulk cash- and bulk check-accepting ATMs for JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the bank's offices in New York City and in Texas, Chad Wagner, a Wincor Nixdorf spokesperson told CardLine sister publication ATM&Debit...

BECU PURCHASES 50 ATMS FROM NEW NCR SELFSERV LINE.
February 1, 2008... The Boeing Employees Credit Union is purchasing 50 SelfServ ATMs, marking the first purchase announcement for NCR's latest product line, the ATM manufacturer announced today. The purchase of the SelfServ ATMs is the first phase of a three-phase...

MERCATOR ADVISORY GROUP EXPANDS INTO PREPAID AND BANKING.
February 1, 2008... The Mercator Advisory Group Inc., based in Waltham, Mass., announced Monday it has started offering advisory services in prepaid cards, retail banking and corporate banking. The company says it will double the volume of research it produces on...

INGENICO REPORTS 12% REVENUE GROWTH.(Groupe INGENICO)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... France-based payment-terminal vendor Ingenico said its revenues for 2007 reached 567.9 million euros (US$828.5 million), up 12.2% from 506.2 million euros for 2006, according to a financial statement released Wednesday. Revenue during the...

BRIEFS.
February 1, 2008... Payments processor TransFirst LLC has appointed Robert Schulte senior vice president of business development.... Centrify Corp., a provider of auditing, access-control and identity-management products, announced today it has joined the Payment...

STUDY: CONTACTLESS CARD PAYMENTS TO REACH 2.5% OF STORES BY 2014.(Report)
February 1, 2008... Only 0.5% of merchant locations in the United States accept contactless card payments, and that percentage will grow to only 2.5% by 2014, according to a new report released today by Aite Group LLC. That means the nation has some 40,000...

MASTERCARD: 20 MILLION PAYPASSES ACTIVE WORLDWIDE.
February 1, 2008... MasterCard Worldwide has deployed 20 million PayPass devices across the planet, and the number will grow as consumers and merchants get hooked on the convenience of the devices, says Gerrit Kerkstra, the brand's senior vice president of...

EBAY: HIGH-RISK SELLERS MUST USE CREDIT CARD OR PAYPAL.
February 1, 2008... Online retailer eBay this week announced policy changes aimed at reducing fraud, including requiring higher-risk sellers to use either a major credit card or PayPal instead of less-secure forms of payment. At eBay's third annual eCommerce Forum...

WINCOR NIXDORF PLANS TO DOUBLE U.S. MARKET SHARE IN 3 YEARS.(Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Eckard Heidloff, president and CEO of Wincor Nixdorf International GmbH, says the ATM manufacturer plans to double its U.S. market share to 10% in three years. The company[acute accent]s goal is to become the world[acute accent]s second-largest...

NCR REPORTS FOURTH-QUARTER EARNINGS WITHOUT TERADATA.(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... NCR Corp., the largest ATM manufacturer in terms of estimated number of machines shipped in 2006, today reported fourth-quarter 2007 net income of $79 million from continuing operations compared with $174 million for the same three-month period...

ADVANTA'S EARNINGS SLID 59% IN FOURTH QUARTER.(Advanta Corp.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 1, 2008... Business credit card issuer Advanta Corp. today reported fourth-quarter net income of $7.4 million, down 59% from $18.2 million in the same period last year. Net income for all of 2007 was $72 million, down 15% from $85 million in 2006. Net...

CONSUMER-FINANCE QUIZ FEATURES CREDIT CARD QUESTIONS.
February 1, 2008... A 20-question quiz released Tuesday by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling is intended to help consumers determine whether they might need financial counseling. Several of the true-or-false statements determine how people manage their...

BRIEF.
February 1, 2008... Wachovia Bank and Visa Inc. announced today Wachovia will continue to issue Visa-branded credit and debit cards under a renewed partnership agreement. (c) 2008 CardLine and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.cardforum.com...

CLARIFICATION.(Correction notice)
February 1, 2008... Yesterday, CardLine reported that First Data Corp. provided the near field communication technology used in the Bay Area Rapid Transit contactless payment test. Greenwood Village, Colo.-based First Data is providing the processing and...

AT&T TO OFFER OBOPAY MOBILE-PAYMENTS SERVICE.
February 8, 2008... AT&T Inc. plans to offer a mobile-payments service from Obopay Inc., CardLine sister publication Cards&Payments has learned. Sources say Obopay will announce the deal soon, making AT&T the second major mobile operator that the Redwood City,...

CREDIT MANAGER'S INDEX DECLINES TO RECORD LOW.
February 8, 2008... The seasonally adjusted Credit Manager's Index (CMI) fell for the fourth consecutive month in December, the National Association of Credit Management reports today. The index lost 0.7 points, falling to a record low of 52.4. Six of the 10...

COMDATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS TO PROCESS DISCOVER TRANSACTIONS.
February 8, 2008... Comdata Processing Systems Inc. is expected to begin processing Discover Network transactions in the second quarter, under a merchant-acquiring agreement announced yesterday with Discover Financial Services. Comdata is a subsidiary of...

INSTITUTIONS SEE BENEFITS WITH REMOTE DEPOSIT-CAPTURE ATMS.(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... Financial institutions can increase deposits and reduce back-office costs if they deploy ATMs with remote deposit-capture functions, says Patty Hayward, senior analyst with the Debit Advisory Service at Waltham, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory...

COMMUNICATION FOSTERS SECURITY-STANDARD COMPLIANCE.(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... Communication, in the form of face-to-face meetings and frequent e-mail messages, is vital in helping merchants comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, according to Michael La Barge, CEO of Reston, Va.-based Datassurant...

LOYALTY PROCUCT TO ADD CONTACTLESS CARDS.(CEO America Inc.)(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... CEO America Inc., a Las Vegas-based gift card and loyalty-rewards company, says it plans to test contactless cards as part of its Creditz Digital Currency loyalty product. The contactless cards will be introduced at the Electronic Transaction...

INGENICO STRIVES TO INCREASE U.S. MARKET SHARE.
February 8, 2008... Ingenico is striving to capture more U.S. payment-terminal business, says Geoff Bowen, president of the North American Division of the France-based terminal maker. "We have to increase our market share in the U.S. significantly," he says. "It...

BRIEFS.
February 8, 2008... According to press reports and a brief announcement on its Web site, Los Angeles-based Herbal Nutrition Center will allow patients who qualify under California law to buy medicinal marijuana to purchase it using prepaid cards from vending...

ALBERTA POLICE ARREST TWO ON CARD, IDENTITY THEFT CHARGES.
February 8, 2008... Police in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, recently charged two women with identity theft, forgery, fraudulent use of stolen credit cards and unauthorized possession of thousands of credit card numbers. The arrests came after a city patrolman stopped...

NEARLY ONE-THIRD OF ONLINE SHOPPERS USE A NONCARD FORM OF PAYMENT.
February 8, 2008... More than 64% of consumers made at least one online purchase during the last quarter of 2007, and 29% of them used Bill Me Later, PayPal, Google Checkout or some other form of noncard payment, according to a report by Atlanta-based consultancy...

NAUTILUS HYOSUNG AMERICA ATM SALES TOPPED 14,000 IN 2007.
February 8, 2008... Off-premise ATM manufacturer Nautilus Hyosung America Inc. says it sold 14,433 ATMs in the United States and Canada last year. The sales occurred during the 11 months the company ventured on its own following an acrimonious split over strategy...

NO-FEE CREDIT CARD OFFERS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
February 8, 2008... Consumers say they do not want to be charged credit card fees for late payments, cash advances and borrowing over their credit limits, yet they are skeptical of no-fee card offers, according to new research from Westbury, N.Y.-based Auriemma...

YOUNGER, POORER CONSUMERS PREFER ONLINE CARD APPLICATIONS TO SNAIL MAIL.
February 8, 2008... With credit card charge-offs and consumer financial pressures on the rise, card issuers should acquire and manage cardholder relationships even more efficiently, contends Javelin Strategy & Research in a report released last week. In a Javelin...

PCI REGULATIONS, CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS MAY SPUR GROWTH IN SATURATED U.S. TERMINAL MARKET.
February 8, 2008... New technology and terminal regulations could spur growth in the saturated U.S. payment-terminal market, according to industry experts. Most retailers already deploy point-of-sale terminals, which means the market has reached saturation, says...

FIVE INSTITUTIONS SIGN WITH MONITISE FOR MOBILE BANKING.
February 8, 2008... Monitise Americas LLC, a mobile-banking and payment provider, says five additional financial institutions have signed mobile-banking agreements with the company, bringing the total to 20 that are working with London-based Monitise and the NYCE...

BRIEFS.(Ontario Systems LLC contract with PaySimple)(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... TransUnion has appointed Samuel Allen "Al" Hamood chief financial officer....Transaction processor PaySimple has signed an agreement with Ontario Systems LLC that gives customers of the software developer another option for processing...

CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
February 8, 2008... On Feb. 1, CardLine incorrectly stated that there was a transaction-amount limit for participants in U.S. Bank's test of contactless mobile payments in Spokane, Wash. In fact, with a signature, participants may charge any amount up to their...

SEARS SUED OVER ALLEGED WEB ACCESS TO CUSTOMER INFORMATION.
February 8, 2008... Christine Desantis, a New Jersey resident and customer of Sears, Roebuck and Co., in January filed a lawsuit against the department-store chain alleging that its Managemyhome.com Web site puts customers at risk for identity theft and credit...

REVOLUTIONCARD INKS MERCHANT-PROCESSING DEAL WITH FIFTH THIRD.
February 8, 2008... RevolutionCard, an upstart consumer credit card brand promising to cut interchange fees to well below those applied to established payment cards, today announced a merchant-processing agreement with Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions. It is...

WITH CHECKFREE, CONSUMERS DEPOSIT CHECKS FROM ANY LOCATION.
February 8, 2008... CheckFree Corp. today launched a product that enables consumers to make remote check deposits online from any location using a personal computer, a scanner and an Internet connection. Consumers may deposit checks with CheckFree Remote Deposit...

CARDTRONICS SIGNS DEAL WITH GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT CO.
February 8, 2008... ATM independent sales organization Cardtronics Inc. has signed an agreement to install ATMs at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and six other properties owned by Gaylord Entertainment Co. Houston-based Cardtronics signed the five-year contract to...

GROUP SENDS CONGRESS VALENTINES ADVOCATING CREDIT CARD REFORM.
February 8, 2008... Consumers Union, an advocacy group and the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, is showering lawmakers with 100,000 hand-delivered Valentine's Day cards asking for credit card reform. The online registration form on its...

FITCH EXPECTS CREDIT CARD DEBT SPIKE IN THIS YEAR:.
February 8, 2008... Fitch Ratings forecasts that the nation's credit card lenders could write off more than 7% of their portfolios this year compared with the 5.21% pace of write-offs in 2007. The credit-ratings agency points to the 4.9% unemployment rate,...

AIRCHARGE SUPPORTS BLACKBERRY PAYMENT ACCESSORIES.
February 8, 2008... Aircharge, a subsidiary of Quincy, Mass.-based Pipeline Data Inc., says it is offering a card reader and printer that consumers may use with Blackberry smartphones on the Sprint and Nextel wireless networks. The devices connect via a wireless...

BRIEFS.(Berman Holdings Inc.)(Center for Financial Services Innovation )(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... Las Vegas-based Berman Holdings Inc. announced today it has completed private-placement equity to start offering a prepaid debit card to consumers without bank accounts....The Center for Financial Services Innovation says it is accepting...

VISA REPORTS 70% RISE IN Q4 NET INCOME.(Financial report)
February 8, 2008... Visa Inc.'s net income and operating revenue rose for the three months ended Sept. 30, the end of Visa's fiscal year, according to an amendment filed Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as the company prepares for an initial...

DIEBOLD TIES LAYOFFS TO U.S. BANK MARKET TURMOIL.
February 8, 2008... ATM manufacturer Diebold Inc. announced today that it is laying off 5% of its worldwide workforce because of a deteriorating U.S. ATM market. The North Canton, Ohio-based company says it will eliminate 800 full-time positions in North America,...

CALIFORNIA BREACH BILL ADDS SPECIFICS TO 2002 LAW.(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... The California State Senate has passed a bill that specifies how businesses, government agencies and organizations operating in the state should notify customers when their personal data, such as credit card information, are stolen or exposed...

NETSPEND SAYS CEO SWITCH UNRELATED TO DEFUNCT CAP ONE DEAL.
February 8, 2008... NetSpend Corp. has named Daniel R. Henry as its new CEO, the company announced today. Henry succeeds Richard J. Savard, who served as CEO of the Austin, Texas-based company, which is a provider of prepaid debit cards, since 2004. The...

SUPER BOWL CREATES POS TERMINAL DEMAND.(Centerplate Inc.)(Brief article)
February 8, 2008... Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a Princeton, N.J.-based transaction processor, says it sent 45 mobile point-of-sale terminals to the University of Phoenix Stadium for last Sunday's Super Bowl XLII. Centerplate Inc., a Stamford, Conn.-based...

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT CHOOSES CITIBANK SOUTH DAKOTA FOR SMARTPAY2.
February 8, 2008... The U.S. General Services Administration says the Department of Defense has chosen Citibank South Dakota N.A. to support the administration's SmartPay2 Program that will serve 1.2 million holders of Defense Department travel cards. SmartPay2...

PCI SECURITY COUNCIL UPDATES MERCHANT QUESTIONNAIRE.
February 8, 2008... The PCI Security Standards Council has delivered an updated merchant questionnaire that distinguishes between how merchants handle transactions and if they retain cardholder data. Four versions of the questionnaire are available. One is for...

BRIEFS.
February 8, 2008... TMG Financial Services, a credit card agent issuing company, has acquired card portfolios from St. Cloud Federal Credit Union in St. Cloud, Minn.; MEMBERS1st Community Credit Union in Marshalltown, Iowa; and Wyo Central Federal Credit Union in...

DISCOVER UNLOADS UK CREDIT CARD UNIT FOR LESS THAN $70 MILLION.
February 8, 2008... Discover Financial Services LLC today announced it will sell its floundering United Kingdom-based Goldfish consumer credit card business to London-based Barclays Bank plc for [pounds sterling]35 million (US$68 million). Barclays will receive...

CONGRESS CONSIDERS BILL THAT WOULD RESTRICT CREDIT CARD COMPANIES.
February 8, 2008... U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced a bill today that would place more restrictions on credit card companies and give consumers more time to pay their bills. The Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act 2008 would require card issuers...

CONSUMERS PREFER PIN-DEBIT DESPITE PUSH FOR SIGNATURE, STUDY FINDS.
February 8, 2008... Consumers prefer entering their personal identification numbers to signing their names at the point of sale for debit card purchases, according to a Gartner Inc. report released this week. Consumers prefer PIN despite marketing efforts by...

FISERV REPORTS 8.7% DECLINE IN Q4 PROFITS.(Financial report)
February 8, 2008... Fiserv Inc. Wednesday reported net income of $96.7 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, down 8.7% from $105.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. Total revenue for Fiserv's financial and insurance processing services and products...

CONSUMERS SUE WESTFIELD AMERICA OVER GIFT CARD FEES.
February 8, 2008... San Diego-based law firm Finkelstein and Krinsk LLP announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of two consumers against Los Angeles-based Westfield America Inc., alleging that the company broke consumer-protection laws by...

ARIZONA BILL WOULD BAN CAMPUS CREDIT CARD GIVEAWAYS.
February 8, 2008... The Arizona House Committee on Higher Education on Tuesday approved by a 6-3 vote legislation to ban credit card companies from offering gifts while soliciting new customers on campuses of state universities and community colleges. The panel...

UNITED BANK CARD UNVEILS PROPRIETARY TERMINAL.
February 8, 2008... United Bank Card Inc., a Hampton, N.J.-based independent sales organization, says it has added the Nurit 8500X point-of-sale terminal to its inventory. San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone Holdings Inc. made the device and customized it by adding...

BRIEFS.
February 8, 2008... GE Money has named president and CEO.... Loyalty marketer Vesdia Corp. will manage and expand Hawaiian Airlines' Hawaiian Miles merchant-funded rewards, the companies announced....Credit Union 24 yesterday activated its CU Here Premium...

FED REPORTS HIGHER CARD DEBT, SLOWER GROWTH IN DECEMBER.
February 15, 2008... American consumers collectively owed $943.5 billion on their credit cards at the end of 2007, up 8% from $875.4 billion at the end of 2006, the Federal Reserve System reported yesterday. The seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of revolving...

ABA SAYS PROPOSED CARD LEGISLATION WOULD TIGHTEN CREDIT.(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... Certain aspects of the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act 2008 bill U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced yesterday "would have unintended consequences such as more expensive and less accessible credit," according to Edward L....

WAL-MART SAYS SHOPPERS ARE USING GIFT CARDS FOR ESSENTIALS.
February 15, 2008... Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says gift card redemptions have been slower than expected since the holidays and that shoppers are using gift cards more often for "food and other consumables rather than discretionary purchases." The Bentonville,...

FEDS URGE BENEFITS RECIPIENTS TO SWITCH FROM CHECKS TO ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS.(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... The U.S. Treasury Department is asking federal-benefits recipients in states struck by recent tornadoes to switch their payments from checks to electronic funds transfers. The recommendation is intended to ensure benefits continue to reach...

MARYLAND BILL WOULD BAN CERTAIN INTEREST RATE CHANGES.
February 15, 2008... Democratic state legislator William C. Frick planned to introduce a bill today in Maryland that would stop credit card companies from changing interest rates for "extraneous circumstances." For example, Frick's proposed legislation would...

BANK FREEDOM SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE SALE TO BERMAN HOLDINGS.
February 15, 2008... Berman Holdings Inc. announced this week that shareholders of Bank Freedom, a prepaid card program manager based in Irvine, Calif., have approved Berman's purchase of Bank Freedom. Last month, Las Vegas-based Berman announced it had agreed to...

MASTERCARD TO APPEAL EC INTERCHANGE RULING BY 3 MARCH.(Brief article)
February 15, 2008... MasterCard says it will file an appeal by March 3 with a European Union court to challenge the European Commission's December ruling that the card company's cross-border interchange rates in Europe violate antitrust rules. European regulators...

BRIEFS.
February 15, 2008... Diageo North America Inc., the distributor for Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, is offering members of its loyalty program a $25 Saks Fifth Avenue gift card for buying a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold Label scotch between now and Valentine's day....

CORRECTION.(Correction notice)
February 15, 2008... On Feb. 8, in reporting Visa Inc.'s earnings, CardLine incorrectly stated the quarter in question and the date it ended. The results were for Visa's fiscal first quarter, which ended Dec. 31. (c) 2008 CardLine and SourceMedia, Inc. All...

INGENICO EYING PURCHASE OF HYPERCOM.
February 15, 2008... Ingenico, a France-based point-of-sale terminal manufacturer, wants to buy Hypercom Corp., a Phoenix-based competitor, Ingenico disclosed late Friday in a letter to Hypercom's board of directors. Ingenico would pay $6.25 per share, or $332...

ALLIANCE DATA DROPS LAWSUIT AGAINST BLACKSTONE.
February 15, 2008... Alliance Data Systems Corp. announced Friday it had dropped a lawsuit filed against The Blackstone Group because of Blackstone's newfound willingness to complete the $6.4 billion acquisition of Alliance Data that was agreed upon in May. Less...

CHASE NAILS TWO GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS THROUGH SMARTPAY2.
February 15, 2008... The U.S. Department of the Interior has selected JPMorgan Chase & Co. as its provider for integrated charge card services, and the U.S. Department of Transportation has selected the bank for travel charge card services, the company announced...