Cardline articles from June 2004

Cardline archives from June 2004

WALL STREET LIKES THE IDEA THAT NATIONAL PROCESSING MAY BE ON THE BLOCK.
June 4, 2004... Wall Street reacted positively to the news today that National City Corp. may sell its National Processing Inc. merchant-acquiring and transaction-processing unit. Investors pushed National Processing's share price up $3.25 to $28.18 in...

VISA READIES CARDLESS B2B PAYMENT SERVICE.(Visa International)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Visa soon will launch its so-called Visa Commerce cardless payment service for business-to-business transactions of up to $10 million, a Visa International executive tells CardLine. At that time, Visa will disclose its first...

EUROPEAN RETAILERS PRESS FOR MORE CONCESSIONS.(credit and debit cards)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... European merchants are gearing up for more challenges to the interchange they pay on credit and debit cards, Xavier R. Durieu, the secretary general of the EuroCommerce association of retailers, tells CardLine. "We have only seen the beginning...

MCDONALD'S ACCEPTING CONTACTLESS CARD IN SINGAPORE.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... McDonald's Corp. has announced that by mid-June all of its 132 restaurants in Singapore will accept the ez-link contactless chip card used to pay transit fares in the Asian city-state. "Over and above quality food and value, we want to...

STARBUCKS EXPECTS ITS PREPAID CARD TO GET AN EVEN BIGGER WORKOUT.(Starbucks Corp.)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Starbucks Coffee Co. has found another use for its popular Starbucks prepaid card. Starbucks customers soon will be able to use the card to pay for the burning, or making, of custom CDs at the company's shops as they sip coffee and munch on a...

E*TRADE IS HOLDING TALKS ABOUT THE SALE OF ITS ATM PORTFOLIO.(E*TRADE Financial Corp.)(Automated Teller Machine )(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... E*Trade Financial Services Corp. has discussed selling all or part of its ATM portfolio of 15,000 ATMs to several leading ATM independent sales organizations, including eFunds Corp., a source tells CardLine's sister publication, ATM&Debit News....

METAVANTE CERTIFIES NCR'S ENVELOPE-FREE TECHNOLOGY.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Dayton, OH-based NCR Corp. announced Wednesday that Metavante Corp., the ATM driver and transaction processor for financial institutions, has certified NCR's envelope-free technology for deposit-taking ATMs. Metavante currently drives about...

PAYMENT EXECUTIVES EXPECT INTERCHANGE RATES TO FALL.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Fifty percent of the respondents to a recent survey by CardLine sister publications Credit Card Management and Card Technology agreed or strongly agreed that, adjusted for inflation, Visa-MasterCard interchange rates will be 20% lower 10 years...

CO-OP GETS ITS MARK ON TRM ATMS FOR MORE SURCHARGE-FREE ACCESS.(CO-OP Network)(TRM Corp)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... The CO-OP Network for credit unions today announced an agreement with TRM Corp. of Portland, OR, for TRM to provide surcharge-free access to CO-OP Network members' debit cardholders on 1,000 ATMs operated by TRM. The ATMs are located in The...

BANK ONE PLANS TO THROW THE SONY CARD A PARTY.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Bank One Corp., which has been issuing the Sony Card since February, is throwing the cobranded card its first big coming out party. The happening involves two days of free concerts and an expo in two New York City parks. Bank One is calling the...

INFICORP BUYS COLORADO CREDIT UNION'S CARD PORTFOLIO.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Horizons North Credit Union has sold its credit card portfolio to InfiCorp in a deal facilitated by AssetExchange, the Portland, OR, credit-union brokerage firm. Horizons, which is based in Northglenn, CO, had a card portfolio with...

AMEX BANK OF CANADA ISSUES SECOND CARD FOR HOLT RENFREW.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Amex Bank of Canada is issuing a second American Express card for Holt Renfrew, the upscale, Toronto-based clothing store chain. The American Express Holt Renfrew Platinum Card will be offered to select cardholders and Holt Renfrew customers....

FORMER MASTERCARD CEO CHAIRING NETSPEND BOARD.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... NetSpend Corp., an Austin, TX-based provider of prepaid debit card processing platforms, today announced the appointments of three new board members, including H ugene Lockhart as chairman. Lockhart, a venture partner at Oak Investment...

UNIVERSAL AIR TRAVEL PLAN GAINS MORE ACCEPTANCE.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... UATP, or Universal Air Travel Plan Inc., announced last week that TravelCorp LLC and Denim Airways will begin accepting UATP as a form of payment this month. TravelCorp is a New Orleans-based travel agency specializing in personalized customer...

SOVEREIGN BANK BEGINS REISSUING 83,000 VISA CHECK CARDS.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Sovereign Bank is in the process of reissuing 83,000 Visa check cards after discovering that 700 of the cards had been compromised following the breach of several unnamed retailers' Web sites. Sovereign mailed letters May 18 to cardholders...

INCREASED MAILINGS SIGNAL A SHIFT IN CARD ISSUERS' STRATEGIES.(credit card industry quarter results)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Issuers mailed nearly 1.3 million direct credit card offers to consumers in the first quarter, a 21% increase in solicitations compared with the fourth quarter of 2003, and an 8% increase from the number sent in the first quarter 2003,...

CREDIT CARD LOANS DROP AT FEDERALLY INSURED CREDIT UNIONS.(National Credit Union Administration)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... The National Credit Union Administration, a government agency that collects data from all 9,369 federally insured credit unions, recently reported that the credit unions' uninsured credit card loans dropped $1 billion in 2004's first quarter...

FEWER CREDIT-UNION MEMBERS HAVE THEIR CREDIT UNIONS' CREDIT CARD IN THEIR WALLETS.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... AssetExchange, the Portland, OR, portfolio-brokerage firm for credit unions, released a report late yesterday regarding credit unions' credit card portfolio trends for the 12-month period ending in March. The report found that - * 19% of credit...

U.S. BANK WILL OFFER MONEYGRAM MONEY-TRANSFER SERVICES.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... U.S. Bank reported Tuesday it will offer MoneyGram's money-transfer services in 213 branches in Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and San Diego by August. Plans call for MoneyGram to be available in 2005 in all of U.S. Bank's 2,275 branches in...

TAYLOR LEAVES VERIFONE, JOINS I-S-CUBED.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Stuart Taylor, formerly vice president of marketing at VeriFone Inc., a Santa Clara, CA-based payment terminal maker, left the company May 28. In an interview today, Taylor tells CardLine he joined I-S-Cubed Inc. yesterday as vice president of...

BOFA LAUNCHES WEB SITE ON CHECK CARD SAFETY.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Bank of America, the nation's leading debit card issuer, today announced the launch of an informational Web site designed to provide its 22 million Visa check card holders with tips on card safety, security and convenience. The site includes...

E* TRADE AGREES TO SELL MOST OF ITS ATM SUBSIDIARY TO CARDTRONICS FOR $106 MILLION.(E*TRADE Financial Corp.)
June 4, 2004... E*Trade Financial Corp. today announced that it has agreed to sell substantially all of its assets in E* Trade Access Inc. to Cardtronics Inc. for $106 million cash, making Houston-based Cardtronics the largest ATM operating firm in the nation...

SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES SETTLES WITH THE SEC.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Symbol Technologies Inc., a Holtsville, NY-based company whose operations include developing point-of-sale terminals and merchant scanners, today announced it has resolved an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice by reaching a...

CARD FEES SPARK MERCHANT REVOLT IN CHINA.(service charges)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... The global war over the fees merchants pay for accepting credit cards has a new front - the booming south China city of Shenzhen near Hong Kong. A coalition of 46 retailers there declared a two-day boycott of credit cards this week after local...

VISA BELIEVES IT WILL BE IN THE WINNER'S CIRCLE AFTER THE BELMONT STAKES.
June 4, 2004... Visa USA President and CEO Carl Pascarella will present Roy and Pat Chapman, the owners of thoroughbred Smarty Jones, with a mock-up of a giant Visa check card for $5 million-not a check-if Smarty Jones wins Saturday's Belmont Stakes, becoming...

MASTERCARD GETS ON BOARD WITH A FLEET CARD.(MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... A Spanish bank is issuing the first MasterCard corporate card with an application to service fleet vehicle owners, a spokesperson for card association tells CardLine today. The bank, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, or BBVA, and Repsol, one of...

PSCU RENEWS CARD-PROCESSING AGREEMENTS.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... PSCU Financial Services, the St. Petersburg, FL, credit-union service organization, yesterday announced that it signed card-processing renewal agreements with two credit unions. PSCU signed five-year renewal agreements with Aerospace Community...

ADMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION LEADS TO RISE IN CARD TRANSACTIONS IN POLAND.(Brief Article)
June 4, 2004... Card transactions rose 11% in Poland since it entered the European Union at the beginning of May, Jaymin B. Patel, chairman of the Supervisor Board of PolCard S.A., tells CardLine. Warsaw-based PolCard is the largest credit and debit card...

SUNOCO SELLS PRIVATE-LABEL AND COMMERCIAL CARD PROGRAM TO CITIBANK FOR $94 MILLION.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Sunoco Inc., the Philadelphia-based marketer and manufacturer of petroleum and petrochemical products, today sold its private-label consumer and commercial card programs to Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank for $94 million, a Sunoco spokesperson tells...

TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES CROSS COUNTRY BANK.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit yesterday against subprime card issuer Cross Country Bank Inc., its affiliate, Applied Card Systems Inc., and Rocco A. Abessino, the companies' founder and CEO. The civil lawsuit filed in the district...

FTC ISSUES NEW RULE ON FREE CREDIT REPORTS; PIRG DISAPPOINTED.(Federal Trade Commission, Public Interest Research Group)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The Federal Trade Commission today issued its final rule regarding free annual credit reports under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The acts require the three nationwide consumer-reporting...

CHARGEOFFS FOR BANK CARD RECEIVABLES DROPPED IN APRIL.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Chargeoffs on pools of securitized bank card receivables dropped 20 basis points to 6.8% of receivables in April from 7.0% in March, according to Standard & Poor's U.S. Credit Quality Index. It was the eighth consecutive month that chargeoffs...

VENDING MACHINE COMPANY COMPLETES INSTALLATION OF CARD-ONLY ACCEPTING MACHINES.(North County Vending )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... North County Vending Inc., the largest independent vending machine operator west of the Mississippi, expects to complete the installation today of 300 card-only accepting vending machines at hotels in five western states, Mark McDonald, vice...

GIFT CARDS ARE A FAVORITE FOR FATHER'S DAY.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Moms may get all the attention, but many consumers do plan to buy a gift for Father's Day this year, and gift cards are one of the top presents, according to a survey released today by the National Retail Federation. Americans plan to spend...

ACCESSID NAMES VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.(Chris Sincock )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... AccessID, a Redmond, WA, software company yesterday announced that Chris Sincock has joined the company as vice president of business development. Prior to joining AccessID, Sincock was vice president of business development HID Corp. AccessID...

AMERIDEBT, THE COMPANY THAT HELPS CONSUMERS GET OUT OF DEBT, IS BANKRUPT.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Credit counseling agency AmeriDebt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Maryland on Saturday. A spokesperson said the Germantown, MD-based firm would continue to process payments for its 90,000 clients nationwide. Last year, the Federal Trade...

REVOLVING CREDIT DIDN'T BLOOM IN APRIL.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Consumer revolving credit, more than 80% of which is on credit cards, contracted at an annualized rate of 5.1% in April, the Federal Reserve reported this afternoon. Meanwhile, non-revolving credit grew 6.7%. April ended with $750.9 billion in...

HIGHER GASOLINE PRICES ARE BEGINNING TO CHANGE PEOPLE'S SPENDING HABITS.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Higher gasoline prices are a major concern for 56% of Americans, and 53% said they will make cutbacks in other areas to continue filling up their cars' gas tanks, according to a survey released this morning by Cambridge Consumer Credit Index....

THOMSON MEDIA ANNOUNCES THAT IT'S UP FOR SALE.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The Thomson Corp., Stamford, CT, today announced it is seeking buyers for its Thomson Media group. Thomson Media is a leading provider of information focused on banking financial services and related technology. Its products include CardLine,...

METAVANTE, UNIRUSH REACH BILL-PAYMENT DEAL.(UniRush Financial Services)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... UniRush Financial Services, a New York-based company founded by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, has struck a deal Metavante Corp. to offer Rush Pay, a new comprehensive bill-payment service available to UniRush's 300,000 Rush Prepaid Visa Card...

FISERV RENEWS EBT PROCESSING CONTRACT WITH J.P. MORGAN CHASE.( electronic benefit transfer )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Fiserv Inc., of Brookfield, WI, will continue providing electronic benefit transfer transaction-processing services for the nation's largest EBT contractor, New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Electronic Financial Services division. Fiserv...

LONG WAITS IN LINE ARE CAUSING CANADIAN RETAILERS TO LOSE SALES.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Canadian retailers are losing C$1.7 billion ($1.3 billion) in annual in-store sales because some shoppers become impatient waiting in line and leave the stores without buying what they came for, according to a survey released today by Moneris...

FEDERAL AGENCIES SEEK PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING DISPOSAL OF CONSUMER INFORMATION.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies today announced they are seeking public comment on an interagency proposal requiring financial institutions to adopt measures for disposing of consumer information derived from credit reports. Under...

PROVIDIAN AGREES TO PAY $65 MILLION TO SETTLE CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Providian Financial Corp. today announced that it agreed to pay $65 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the company and its officers by shareholders who purchased Providian's stock between June 6, 2001 and Oct. 18,...

STANTON NAMED PRESIDENT OF MASTERCARD CANADA.(Kevin J. Stanton )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... MasterCard International today named Kevin J. Stanton president of MasterCard Canada. Stanton had been interim president since March, replacing Walt Macnee. Macnee jumped to the competing card association, becoming executive vice president of...

STARBUCKS BREWS A CHIP CARD FOR TAIWAN.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Starbucks Coffee Co., which issues a magnetic stripe stored-value card in North America and some other markets, is issuing a similar product on a smart card in Taiwan where banks are converting payment cards to chip cards. With smart cards,...

EXPERIAN-SCOREX TEAMS WITH TSYS.(Total System Services )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Experian-Scorex, the credit arm of Experian, has embedded its Scorex Transaction Fraud Score model into Total System Services Inc.'s (TSYS) CardGuard fraud-detection system, Experian-Scorex executives told CardLine yesterday. CardGuard operates...

'WEEKENDS MATTER' FOR MASTERCARD.(MasterCard sweepstakes)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Using a MasterCard between June 1 and July 31 will give cardholders the chance to win $250,000 toward a weekend home, the Purchase, NY-based card association tells CardLine. This is the second year MasterCard International has offered...

VISA INTERNATIONAL LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN REGION INTRODUCES NEW CARD OPTION.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Visa International Latin America and Caribbean Region today announced that it has given its 500 member banks a new card optionaean unembossed card that only can be used at point-of-sale terminals. The card does not have raised numbers or...

TEXANS CREDIT UNION SELLS $52 MILLION CARD PORTFOLIO TO MBNA.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Texans Credit Union has sold its credit card portfolio with $52 million in receivables to MBNA Corp., Kevin Stewart, the credit union's executive vice president, tells CardLine today. The credit union, which is based in Richardson, TX, and was...

MASTERCARD CANADA PRESIDENT LAYS OUT STRATEGY TO GROW BUSINESS.(Kevin J. Stanton)
June 11, 2004... Kevin J. Stanton, who was named president of MasterCard Canada this week, tells CardLine today that he is meeting with Canadian banks that issue Visa cards in the hope they switch to MasterCard. "I tell them what MasterCard has to offer and in...

IRS RENEWS WITH OFFICIAL PAYMENTS.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... The Internal Revenue Service has renewed its contract with Official Payments Corp. for the collection and processing of federal income-tax payments on Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards, Stamford, CT-based Official Payments...

BANK ONE CARD PREPARES FOR ITS LONG GOODBYE.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Drink a beer. Bid adieu and shed a tear for the Bank One card. Beginning next year, the name Bank One gradually will be removed from its credit and debit cards and replaced with the name Chase as in J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which is merging...

BANK TO REISSUE CHECK CARDS A SECOND TIME.(Sovereign Bank )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Sovereign Bank of Wyomissing, PA, last week began replacing recently reissued Visa check cards because a faulty magnetic-stripe enables cardholders to conduct only PIN-based purchases. Sovereign Bancorp, Sovereign Bank's Philadelphia-based...

AWARDS FOR CARD ASSOCIATIONS AND ISSUERS SPREAD AROUND GOLD, SILVER AND BRONZE.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... It may not be the Olympics but MasterCard International grabbed a gold while American Express Co., Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank, and Visa USA took home silver and bronze awards last night. The major card companies were honored in New York City...

TWO CREDIT UNIONS CONVERT THEIR CARD PROGRAMS.(Cinfed Federal Credit Union, HEW Federal Credit Union )(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Cinfed Federal Credit Union and HEW Federal Credit Union recently converted their card programs to PSCU Financial Services' CreditAbility processing platform, PSCU announced yesterday. Cinfed, which is based in Cincinnati, has 8,500 credit...

FIELD'S ACQUISITION TO BOOST MAY'S PRIVATE-LABEL CARD RANKING.(Marshall Field's, May Department Stores )
June 11, 2004... The May Department Stores Co. will soon own the nation's largest proprietary card program directly run by a retailer after it completes its $3.24 billion acquisition of Target Corp.'s venerable Marshall Field's department-store chain. The cash...

SURVEY: ATM REVENUES ARE DROPPING BECAUSE USERS ARE FED UP WITH FEES.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... A survey by Boston-based Dove Consulting Inc. of 134 top deployers that operate 144,000 ATMs shows that ATM revenues are declining. Dove's survey report, "The Search For A New Model," details of which were outlined today in CardLine's sister...

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN TAKES UP THE ISSUE OF STUDENT CREDIT CARD DEBT.
June 11, 2004... The Board of Regents for the University of Wisconsin System, which operates the state's 13 four-year schools and 14 two-year schools, was expected to discuss credit card solicitations today, a spokesperson for the UW-Madison tells CardLine. The...

THIS WATCH IS NOT A TWO-WAY RADIO, BUT IT CAN DO ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE.(Offica Watch at JCB Co.)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Shades of Dick Tracy. Well almost. JCB Co. Ltd., Japan's largest credit card issuer, today began a two-month employee test of a wristwatch that incorporates a number of contactless chip functions. The wristwatch, which is called the Offica...

FIRST DATA BUYS GREEK PROCESSOR.(Delta Singular Outsourcing Services)(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... First Data Corp. announced today it will buy Delta Singular Outsourcing Services A.E., a payment processor serving Greece, the Balkans and the Middle East. First Data will pay $248.2 million or 206 million euros for the processor, which is...

NYCE BECOMES HARRIS BANK'S PREFERRED ATM PROVIDER.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... NYCE Corp., the Montvale, NJ-based electronic funds transfer network, has signed a deal with Harris Bank of Chicago to be the preferred ATM network provider for Harris. But the deal will keep the Star network as Harris' preferred provider for...

KREDITKORT SIGNS AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS IN ICELAND.(Brief Article)
June 11, 2004... Kreditkort hf. has signed an agreement to become the sole merchant acquirer for American Express Co. in Iceland. According to the agreement, Kreditkort will begin the first phase of managing all aspects of American Express's merchant...

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IS TAKING A LOT OF INTEREST IN THE HIGH RATES CHARGED ON STORE CARDS.(United Kingdom Competition Commission)
June 18, 2004... The United Kingdom's Competition Commission is investigating the U.K.'s PN4.8 billion ($8.7 billion) store-card market that's dominated by private-label issuer GE Consumer Finance, a commission spokesperson tells CardLine today. "We're...

VISA BEEFS UP TOURIST PROGRAMS.(contract and marketing of Visa International)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Visa International beefed up its global travel and tourism marketing programs this week. The Foster City, CA-based association reported it will expand its marketing alliance with Delta Air Lines to introduce new cobranded credit and debit cards...

BANK EXPECTS MOVIE AD CAMPAIGN TO MAKE THE GARFIELD VISA CARD THE CAT'S MEOW.(Commerce Bank, new product)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Commerce Bank, a regional bank with operations in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois, says the launch of its Garfield Visa card will benefit from the multi-million-dollar advertising campaign surrounding today's nationwide opening of the film,...

CAPITAL ONE'S NEW GO MILES CARD MEANS FEWER MILES TO GO TO RECEIVE A REWARD.(Capital One Financial Corp., services)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Capital One Financial Corp. will replace its MilesOne Rewards Visa card with a Go Miles Visa card effective Aug. 5, according to the issuer's Web site and mailings to cardholders. A Cap One spokesperson declined to disclose the number of...

CREDIT UNION OFFERS AMEX STORED-VALUE CARD.(American Express Co., Hawaii Federal Credit Union, contract)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Hawaii Federal Credit Union has become one of the first financial institutions to offer a plastic version of American Express Co.'s popular travelers checks, Thomson Media's Credit Union Journal Daily reported yesterday. The newly introduced...

CYOTA ADDS LISKER TO ITS BOARD.(Joel S. Lisker appointed)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Joel S. Lisker, former MasterCard International senior vice president of security and risk management, has joined the Cyota Inc.'s board of directors, the company announced yesterday. Lisker, a former FBI agent and special-agent supervisor,...

TRANSFIRST NAMES SENIOR VP OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS.(Andrew Rueff appointed)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... TransFirst, the Dallas-based provider of transaction-processing services and payment technologies, yesterday announced the promotion of Andrew Rueff to senior vice president for mergers and acquisitions. Rueff, who joined TransFirst in 2000,...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
June 18, 2004... First Data Corp.'s purchase of Grecian processor Delta Singular Outsourcing Services A.E. is dependent on approval by First Data's board, not First Data's shareholders (CardLine 6-11). Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved....

INTERCEPT HANGS OUT THE 'FOR SALE' SIGN.(Intercept Group Inc., Jefferies and Company Inc., contract)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... InterCept has hired an outsider to explore its sale, but wait, there's more from the troubled processor. InterCept, an Atlanta-based company that provides processing software for mid-size community banks, late Friday announced it had hired...

METAVANTE CLEARS A HURDLE IN THE PURCHASE OF NYCE; OTHERS REMAIN.(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Metavante Corp., the Brookfield, WI-based processor today cleared a major hurdle in its bid to buy NYCE Corp. and its electronic funds transfer network YCE's minority shareholders-Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., HSBC USA Inc. and J.P. Morgan...

U.K. BANKS AND BUILDING SOCIETIES RETAIN MARKET SHARE BY NOT CHARGING FOR ATM USE.(Automated teller machines)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Ninety-six percent of cash withdrawals from ATMs in the United Kingdom were free last year because they were processed through ATMs owned by U.K. banks and building societies that agreed under pressure not to charge non-customers who use their...

U.K. ATM MARKET OUTPACES THE REST OF EUROPE.(automated teller machines, United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The United Kingdom's ATM market is growing much faster than its European neighbors, the Association of Payment Clearing Services, which represents the U.K.'s banks and building societies, said today. In 2002-the latest year for which statistics...

ADVANTA EXPANDS OFFICE OF THE CHAIRMAN.(Brian Tierney appointed)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Advanta Corp. today announced that it had expanded the office of the chairman to include a third person, hiring Brian Tierney, founder of T2 Group, Advanta's public relations and marketing firm for the past six months. The 47-year-old Tierney...

TNB CARD SERVICES WILL MARKET MASTERCARD'S FAMILY CARD.(MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... TNB Card Services, a card-program manager for credit unions, announced today it would market nationally MasterCard International's Family Account, the single-account credit card with several subaccounts for family members. Using Family Account,...

VISA FINDS CONSUMERS FAVOR CLEANERS OVER CARDS.(Visa U.S.A. Inc., survey)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Credit cards generate less commitment from consumers than bathroom cleaners, potato chips or frozen entrees, according to the Credit Card Commitment Research study from Visa USA. But debit cards did moderately well compared with other consumer...

SPOKE TOO SOON - PENTHOUSE'S IBILL ISN'T OUT OF VISA'S CHARGEBACK DOGHOUSE.(Internet Billing Co., Penthouse International Inc., Visa U.S.A. Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Penthouse International Inc., the owner of Internet Billing Co. (iBill), a leading processor for pornographic Web sites, today put out a press release correcting what it said last month about being released from Visa USA's program for...

CITI LAUNCHES BI-NATIONAL CARD.(Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Citigroup Inc. today introduced a credit card account usable by customers in the U.S. and Mexico. Citi, which owns a major Mexican bank, Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex), calls the product a first and says it is aimed at strengthening Citi's...

VISA DESJARDINS TO ISSUE CREDIT CARDS FOR CANADA'S SECOND-LARGEST CREDIT UNION.(Coast Capital Savings Credit Union)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Visa Desjardins, which wants to become the card issuer for Canada's credit unions, has landed a big one. Montreal-based Visa Desjardins has signed a card-issuing agreement with Coast Capital Savings, Canada's second-largest credit union, Benoit...

ENTOURAGE CARD IS NO LONGER PART OF CIBC'S CARD ENTOURAGE.(Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, services)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will discontinue supporting Entourage, a cobranded American Express Co. card that CIBC issued over AmEx's Global Network Services, a CIBC spokesperson tells CardLine. CIBC, Canada's largest Visa issuer, said...

FAIR ISAAC IS OFFERING AFFORDABLE IDENTITY-THEFT PROTECTION.(service)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... Fair Isaac Corp. today announced that it is offering identity theft protection to consumers for as little as $2 a month with the launch of its myFICO Identity Theft and Credit Protection programs. MyFICO is presenting identity-theft protection...

AUSTRALIA MAY LIMIT AMERICAN EXPRESS CO.'S FEES.(Reserve Bank of Australia, rules)(Brief Article)
June 18, 2004... The Reserve Bank of Australia is considering imposing reforms on American Express Co., The New Zealand Herald will report in tomorrow's editions. The reforms would limit the credit card fees earned by financial institutions. The Reserve Bank,...