Cardline articles from March 2004

Cardline archives from March 2004

IS GLOBAL CASH'S MANAGEMENT READY TO SHUFFLE THE OWNERSHIP DECK?(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... First Data Corp. may be selling its majority stake in the nation's largest casino ATM and EFT processor, Global Cash Access, to management in a leveraged buyout. First Data, however, is holding its cards close to its corporate vest. "We don't...

FORMER INTUIT, PAYPAL CEO HAS PHISHING MARKED FOR DEATH.(PassMark Security LLC)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Problem presented, problem solved? Maybe. A veteran payments executive this week introduced a system to combat phishing, the online fraud that has been exploding worldwide. Bill Harris, former CEO of Intuit Inc. and PayPal Inc., is founder and...

MIST NOW A THING OF THE PAST.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Mobile Information Solution Technologies Inc. is again NBS Technologies Inc., and the company has undergone major executive changes, starting at the top. Former President and CEO Charles Lee, who joined NBS in February 2000, changed the name of...

INTELIDATA POSTS LOSS ON DECLINING REVENUES.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... InteliData Technologies Corp., the provider of online banking and electronic bill presentment and payment software and services to banks and card issuers, Thursday afternoon reported a fourth-quarter loss of $873,000 compared with a $200,000...

PAYMENTECH WILL PROCESS CARDS FOR TACO BUENO.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Paymentech L.P., the Dallas-based merchant acquirer, recently announced that it will process debit and credit card transactions for 124 Taco Bueno Restaurants Inc. stores in Texas and Oklahoma. Taco Bueno is a Carrolton, TX-based fast-food...

CATUITY, CERTEGY SIGN LICENSE AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Loyalty software provider Catuity Inc. reported Wednesday it had signed a long-term license agreement with processor Certegy Inc. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Detroit-based Catuity next month will begin to install its software at...

KOREAN CARD ISSUER FIRES STRIKING WORKERS VIA TEXT MESSAGES.(KEB Credit Service Co.)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... KEB Credit Service Co., South Korea's third-largest credit card issuer, today fired a quarter of its striking workers via text messages on their cellular telephones, according to wire-service reports. "The layoff date is February 28. We will...

CORRECTION.
March 5, 2004... Last Week's CardLine incorrectly reported a dollar figure for Starbucks Corp.'s share price. Starbucks closed yesterday at $37.41, down 4% from Wednesday's $38.95 close. CardLine apologizes for the error. Copyright 2004 Thomson Media Inc....

TARGET KILLS SMART CARD PROGRAM, CITING LOW ADOPTION.
March 5, 2004... In a blow to smart cards in the United States, Target Corp. confirmed today that it plans to phase out its smart card program over the next 12 months. "We are doing this because of low adoption of the smart couponing program by our guests," a...

TARGET PULLBACK DISAPPOINTS SMART CARD EXECUTIVES.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Today's decision by Target Corp. to phase out the smart card chip on its Visa-branded credit card is disappointing, but not a reflection on smart cards, says Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, a Princeton Junction,...

VISA FACES A DECISION ON ITS SMART CARD PLATFORM.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Target's retreat from smart cards appears to leave Visa USA without a major customer for its "Smart Rewards" platform launched nearly two years ago as a means to offer smart card-based loyalty programs. "They don't have a big program to support...

HOUSEHOLD CARD PROGRAM GROWS 15%.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Managed card receivables grew 15% at Household International Inc. in 2003, according to filings Prospect Heights, IL-based Household made today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Household ended 2003 with $39 billion in bank card...

FIRST HORIZON SIGNS PROCESSING AGREEMENT WITH METROMEDIA.(contracts)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... First Horizon Merchant Services today signed a five-year contract to provide debit and credit card processing for Metromedia Restaurant Group's corporate stores. Metromedia, which is based in Plano, TX, operates 300 corporate Bennigan's, Steak...

LIGHTBRIDGE BUYS AUTHORIZE.NET FOR $82 MILLION.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Lightbridge Inc., a Burlington, MA-based software company that provides credit checks, authorization and activation for the cellular-telephone industry, purchased Authorize.Net Inc., a debit and credit card processor, for $82 million, a...

ALLIANCE DATA SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH DESIGN WITHIN REACH.(contracts)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Alliance Data Systems Corp. recently announced that it has signed a five-year agreement with Design Within Reach, a San Francisco-based modern-design retailer. Dallas-based Alliance is providing Design Within Reach a private-label credit card...

BELLCO CREDIT UNION JOINS CO-OP NETWORK.(partners)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Bellco Credit Union, a Denver-based credit union, is joining CO-OP Network, both companies recently announced. Bellco brings 68 ATMs and 143,000 member customers into the CO-OP, which now has 16 of 20 of the largest credit unions in Colorado as...

VISA INTERNATIONAL NAMES NEW CEO.(appoints Christopher J. Rodrigues)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Visa International's board of directors today announced that it has named Christopher J. Rodrigues president and CEO, replacing Malcolm Williamson, who retired Feb 29 after leading the card association for five years. The 54-year-old Rodrigues...

MASTERCARD'S VOLUME GREW 10% IN 2003.(global gross dollar volume)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... MasterCard International's global gross dollar volume for 2003 totaled $1.27 trillion, up 10.4% on a U.S. dollar basis from 2002, the association reported today. Worldwide, cardholders used 632.4 million MasterCard-branded cards, excluding...

EXPERIAN RELEASES CREDIT CARD STUDY RESULTS.(reports)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Experian Inc.'s Experian Consumer Direct, the Irvine, CA-based company that provides direct-to-consumer credit reports, yesterday released results of its nationwide study on consumer credit card usage xperian, which based its study on a...

THIS LITTLE PIGGIE WILL PAY FOR MY GROCERIES AT PIGGLY WIGGLY.(Pay By Touch)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., the supermarket chain, will offer the Pay By Touch biometric payments system in four stores in South Carolina beginning in July, Pay By Touch announced Monday. Pay By Touch's fingerprint scanning system will be...

ASIA PAYMENT SYSTEMS BELIEVES STOCK LISTING WILL HELP IT IN CHINA.
March 5, 2004... Card processor and merchant acquirer-in-waiting Asia Payment Systems Inc. is now trading on the OTC Bulletin Board, a move that Matt Mecke, Asia Payment Systems president and CEO, says will give the company traction in setting up merchant...

AHOLD SELLS BRAZILIAN CARD OPERATIONS.(divestments of Hipercard)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Ahold NV, the Amsterdam, Netherlands, retailer, has sold its credit card operations in Brazil as part of the company's strategy to reduce its debt. Ahold sold Hipercard for $200 million to Unibanco S.A., a Brazilian bank, according to...

EFUNDS, ENCORE GO FOR AN ENCORE.(renewed their contracts )(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... EFunds Corp. and Encore Electronic Services Cooperative Inc., a credit-union services organization, recently announced that they have renewed their agreement. The two companies have worked together for more than a decade. Under the new...

THE DMA WILL NOT APPEAL DO-NOT-CALL DECISION.(Direct Marketing Association)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... The Direct Marketing Association, which represents 80% of telemarketing industry companies, many of whom work for card issuers, announced today that it will not appeal a court decision that upheld the federal do-not-call registry. "We have...

METRIS COMPANIES RESTATES FINANCIAL RESULTS FROM 1998-2003.(drop in shareholder equity)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... News that subprime card issuer Metris Companies Inc. restated financial results for 1998 through 2002 and for the first three quarters of 2003 pushed its share price up as much as 15% today in afternoon trading. Minnetonka, MN-based Metris late...

VISA'S INTERLINK SHOWS DRAMATIC GROWTH.(Interlink network transactions rose 43%, to $3.3 billion from $2.3 billion)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Holders of Interlink PIN-based point-of-sale debit cards in January initiated 93 million purchases, up 39% from 67 million transactions in January 2003, according to Visa USA, which owns the Interlink network. The value of the transactions rose...

EXPERIAN URGES HONG KONG TO OPEN A CENTRALIZED CREDIT BUREAU.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Experian-Scorex, an affiliate of the Experian credit-reporting agencies in the U.S. and United Kingdom, is calling for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to establish a centralized credit bureau for positive and negative consumer data. "Hong Kong...

MASTERCARD ENDS RELATIONSHIP WITH RINGLING BROS.(contracts withdraw)
March 5, 2004... MasterCard International has dropped its controversial sponsorship of Feld Entertainment's Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that had been criticized by a prominent animal-rights group. A MasterCard spokesperson says, however, that...

CITI TO ADD 1,600 CALL-CENTER JOBS IN LOUISVILLE.(customer-service jobs in a new, $35.8 million call center)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Executives from Citigroup Inc., the world's largest credit card issuer, and public officials that included Kentucky Gov rnie Fletcher today announced that Citigroup's Citi Cards subsidiary will add 1,600 card-related collections and...

EFUNDS REPORTS IMPROVED FOURTH QUARTER.(profits)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... EFunds Corp., the Scottsdale, AZ-based ATM operator and EFT transaction processor, today reported a much-improved fourth quarter for 2003 compared with 2002's Funds reported net income of $10.1 million, which is more than 10 times the income of...

NORTH AMERICAN POS TERMINAL SHIPMENTS UP IN 2003.(Point of sale, Telecommunications Equipment Industry)
March 5, 2004... The North American market is getting kinder to the region's point-of-sale terminal makers. As a group in 2003, the manufacturers combined shipped 2.25 million stand-alone terminals in the region, up 10.8% from 2.03 million in 2002, according to...

ATM SHIPMENTS IMPROVE.(survey by CardLine's sister publication)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... U.S. financial institutions are replacing their aging ATMs at a faster pace than in past years as new ATM requirements close in, suggests the results of a new survey by CardLine's sister publication, ATM&Debit News. Overall, manufacturers...

SIDECARD CREATES A MAP-OF-TAIWAN CARD.(credit card for cardholders in Taiwan)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... MasterCard International's SideCard unit has created another unusually shaped credit card-this one for cardholders in Taiwan. One side of the card is shaped like Taiwan's west coast. Union Bank of Taiwan is distributing the eye-catching card to...

NON-PRIME CARDHOLDERS PUSHED CARD UTILIZATION AND OUTSTANDING BALANCES.(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Revolving credit card utilization and outstanding balance levels dramatically increased from 1999 to 2002, pushed by card issuers extending credit to consumers with non-prime credit scores, Charles Chung, vice president of consulting and...

WELLS FARGO WILL ISSUE PRIVATE-LABEL CARDS FOR GALLERY FURNITURE.(contract to provide a private-label credit card program)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Wells Fargo Financial Retail Services today announced that it will a provide a private-label credit card program for Gallery Furniture, a Houston-based retailer that sells more than $150 million in furniture annually. The program will include a...

SCOTIABANK'S CARD REVENUES INCREASE 3% IN FIRST QUARTER.(report)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... Scotiabank Tuesday reported card revenues for the first quarter ended Jan. 31 of C$155 million, up 3% from C$150 million in 2003's first quarter. Personal and credit card loans during the quarter were C$27.04 million, up 14% from C$23.78...

APPOINTMENTS.(Chuck Fagan appointed as executive director of sales)(Brief Article)
March 5, 2004... PSCU Financial Services, the largest credit union service organization, today announced that Chuck Fagan has been appointed executive director of sales. Fagan will be responsible for marketing debit, credit and PSCU's suite of eServices to...

SETTLEMENT COSTS THROW MASTERCARD FOR A LOSS.
March 12, 2004... MasterCard Inc. today reported a 2003 loss of $385.8 million compared with net income of $116.4 million in 2002. The Purchase, NY-based card association attributed the loss to the settlement of the merchant class-action lawsuit and other legal...

FEWER CARDHOLDERS ARE MAKING ONLY MINIMUM PAYMENTS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Some 42% of cardholders either will pay the minimum or not make a payment at all on their revolving credit card accounts this month, according to a survey released today by Cambridge Consumer Credit Index. But it's not a cause for hand wringing...

REVOLVING CREDIT GROWS 8% IN JANUARY.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Consumer revolving credit grew at an 8.6% seasonally adjusted annualized rate in January, the Federal Reserve reported today. In contrast to most months over the past few years, revolving credit's growth slightly outpaced that of nonrevolving...

MASTERCARD'S ADVERTISING AND MARKETING EXPENSES RISE.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... MasterCard Inc.'s advertising and market development expenses increased 23% or $157 million in 2003, compared with a 37%, or $188 million, increase in 2002. The acquisition of MasterCard Europe accounted for 45%, or $70 million, and 39%, or $73...

UNITEDHEALTH GROUP WILL ISSUE PAYMENT CARDS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... UnitedHealth Group, a $28.8 billion health insurer, has opened its own bank and plans to issue this summer patient-identification cards with a payment feature. UnitedHealth opened Exante Bank Inc. to issue magnetic-stripe cards that will draw...

ATMS ARE POPULAR WITH HISPANICS BECAUSE THEY SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE.(automated teller machines)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... ATMs are popular among the total U.S. population, but the machines are particularly popular among Hispanics because many are bilingual, according to a study released today by Synergistics Research Corp. "The availability of a language choice on...

TCM BUYS FIVE CARD PROGRAMS FROM SMALL BANKS.(TCM Bank)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... TCM Bank, which is owned by ICBA Bancard, the payment-services corporation of the Independent Community Bankers of America, today announced that it purchased in January the credit card portfolios of five community banks. Classic Bank of...

ATA WILL APPEAL DO-NOT-CALL DECISION.(American Teleservices Association)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... The American Teleservices Association, which represents call centers, said it will appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for Tenth Circuit's decision concerning the national do-not-call registry to the U.S. Supreme Court, although American...

PSCU INTRODUCES GIFT CARD PROGRAM FOR ITS MEMBERS.(PSCU Financial Services)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest credit-union service organization, has launched a gift card program for its 519 credit-union members after successfully testing two such programs last year, a spokesperson tells CardLine today....

AMEX-AEROPLAN CASH-BACK CORPORATE BUSINESS CARD TAKES OFF.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... American Express Co.'s Amex Bank of Canada and Aeroplan, Air Canada's loyalty program, today announced the launch of a corporate cash-rewards card for small and medium sized companies that's designed to drive business to the financially...

SURVEY - MORE PEOPLE ARE BORROWING MONEY TO PAY BILLS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Cambridge Consumer Credit Index Friday released a survey that found that 41% of respondents said they probably will borrow money in March. Of that percentage, 51% said they are confident that they will be able to pay off the additional debt,....

COMPANIES LOOK TO ADD TELEPHONE MINUTES TO STORED-VALUE CARDS.(Chockstone Inc)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Chockstone Inc has formed an alliance Vesta Corp. to add long-distance telephone and wireless telephone minutes to stored-value cards, Jeffrey Lipp, president and CEO of Chockstone, tells CardLine. "It would differentiate the card from others...

VISA USA LOOKING FOR NEW MARKETING CHIEF.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Rebecca Saeger, Visa USA executive vice president of brand management, will leave the card association Friday after seven years to become EVP of brand management at Charles Schwab & Co., a Visa spokesperson tells CardLine today. Saeger, who was...

FIRST DATA ANNOUNCES ENCOMPASS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... First Data Corp., the Greenwood Village, CO, processor, announced last week that it has combined the payment services it offers to Internet merchants into a one-stop shopping business called Encompass ncompass supports First Data's...

PEOPLE'S BANK COMPLETES SALE OF CARD BUSINESS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... People's Bank announced Friday that it completed the $2.3 billion sale of its credit card business to Royal Bank of Scotland plc. The transaction included the transfer of People's Bank's Bridgeport, CT, credit card operations and staff to RBS....

FIRST DATA MUM ABOUT RUMORED MAITLAND CENTER CLOSING.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... First Data Corp. is moving swiftly to consolidate its payment-processing infrastructure after taking control of Concord EFS Inc. and Concord's Star network Feb. 26. in a $6.9 billion purchase. First Data plans to close Star's Maitland, FL,...

CITIBANK ISSUES SECURED CARD TO ATTRACT HISPANIC AND ASIAN IMMIGRANTS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Citibank today introduced Citi MasterCard, a credit card secured by an 18-month certificate of deposit ranging from $200 to $5,000. Citibank, the world's largest credit card issuer, launched the secured card to attract immigrants and others who...

RECURRING BILL PAYMENTS MADE WITH THE VISA CHECK CARD ROSE 41% LAST YEAR.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Consumers used their Visa check card for slightly over half the $50.6 billion in recurring bills that they paid with a Visa-branded card last year, Diana Knox, senior vice president of the San Francisco-based association, tells CardLine. The...

LG CARD REPORTS 2003 LOSS OF $4.8 BILLION; KOREAN ISSUERS REPORT RECORD LOSSES.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... LG Card, South Korea's largest credit card issuer, Monday reported a 2003 loss of $4.8 billion, adding to the sea of red ink posted by the country's largest credit card companies. The net loss reverses LG Card's 2002 net profit of $298.8...

SMART CARDS CONTROL HOME DIALYSIS MACHINES.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Swedish medical technology company Gambro AB has purchased 6,000 smart cards from Germany-based Orga Kartensysteme GmbH to control operation of its Serena home kidney dialysis treatment machines. Orga card readers also are used with the system,...

INFORMATION ARCHITECTS BUYS PAYROLL CARD COMPANY.(International Monetary Exchange Systems Corp)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Information Architects Corp. today announced that it has purchased International Monetary Exchange Systems Corp., a company that specializes in prepaid payroll cards, for an undisclosed price. Information Architects, a Fort Lauderdale, FL,...

MBNA CANCELS CONTROVERSIAL CREDIT CARD.('Spirit of America' credit card)(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... MBNA Corp. Friday cancelled its "Spirit of America" credit card that depicted three New York City firefighters raising the American flag amid the rubble of the World Trade Center because the card became a flashpoint for controversy. "We...

FIRST DATA WILL KEEP MAITLAND CENTER OPEN AFTER ALL.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... First Data Corp. says it will not completely close Concord EFS Inc.'s Maitland, FL center, which currently serves as Concord's main Star network transaction processing center (CardLine, 2-9). All of Maitland's PIN-based debit switching and...

CAPITAL ONE SEEKS BANK HOLDING COMPANY STATUS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Following through on its plan to diversify, McLean, VA-based Capital One Financial Corp., the No. 6 credit card issuer by receivables, has filed for bank holding company status. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond published notice of Cap One's...

FIRST DATA BREAKS THROUGH, SIGNS CARD-PROCESSING AGREEMENT WITH CHINESE BANK.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... First Data Corp. is processing cards and merchant transactions for China Everbright Bank, the first outsourcing contract First Data has received since entering mainland China's market in 1995 and the first for a mainland Chinese bank. First...

PROVIDIAN SIGNS WITH FIRST DATA, PULLING BUSINESS AWAY FROM TSYS.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Providian Financial Corp. yesterday announced that it has signed an agreement with First Data Corp. that takes some of Providian's business away from First Data rival Total System Services Inc. (TSYS). "It would be accurate to say that we have...

FIRST DATA SELLS STAKE IN GLOBAL CASH ACCESS FOR $435 MILLION.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... First Data Corp. today confirmed that it has sold its 67% interest in GCA Holdings, parent company of Global Cash Access LLC, to M&C International Inc., for $435 million in a leveraged buyout (CardLine, 2-27). M&C, GCA's founder, now owns...

KINDERCARE MAKES DISCOVER ITS EXCLUSIVE CARD.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... KinderCare Learning Centers, a Portland, OR-based provider of child care and early childhood education, has selected the Discover card as its exclusive credit card payment option. "Discover had the best business arrangement for us and for our...

ASSET ACCEPTANCE REPORTS 73% INCREASE IN FOURTH-QUARTER NET INCOME.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Asset Acceptance Capital Corp., a leading buyer of charged-off consumer debt, today reported fourth-quarter net income of $11.1 million, up 73% from $6.4 million in 2002's fourth quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $44.3 million, up 53 % from...

TRANSFIRST BUYS FIFTH THIRD'S AGENT-BANK MERCHANT DIVISION.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... TransFirst, the privately held Dallas-based transaction processor, has purchased Fifth Third Bancorp.'s third-party and agent-bank merchant division for an undisclosed price, Thomas "Tommy" Rouse, TransFirst's chairman and CEO, tells CardLine...

CARDTRONICS PLANS AN IPO, BUT NO TIME FRAME HAS BEEN SET.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Cardtronics Inc., the third-largest independent sales organization ATM operator in the U.S., wants to take the company public and raise $115 million. Cardtronics yesterday filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to...

PAYMENTECH SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH CIRCLE K STORES.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Merchant acquirer Paymentech L.P. has expanded its relationship with Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., the Montreal-based company that is the fourth-largest convenience-store operator in North America with 4,630 stores. Paymentech today announced...

CHARGEOFF RATES DECLINED IN JANUARY.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Chargeoff rates on securitized pools of credit card receivables improved in January, dropping to 6.8% of receivables from 7% in December 2003, according to the Standard & Poor's U.S. Credit Card Quality Index. The January chargeoff level is the...

TARGET'S DEPARTMENT-STORE CARDS SHRINKING.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... Wednesday's news that Target Corp. may sell its Marshall Field's and Mervyn's department-store divisions could mean that two proprietary card programs worth more than $1.2 billion will soon have new owners. The programs, however, have shrunk in...

VISA CHECK CARD VOLUME UP 23% IN 2003.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... The number of signature-based (offline) purchases initiated by U.S. Visa check card holders in 2003 totaled 7.8 billion, up 20% from 6.5 billion in 2002, according to data released today by Visa USA. Total spent on 2003 purchases was $304.4...

NOVA, UMB RENEW MERCHANT-PROCESSING PACT.(Brief Article)
March 12, 2004... UMB Bank and Atlanta-based Nova Information Systems have renewed an existing contract to form a 10-year pact under which Nova provides credit and debit card processing and related services to 9,000 UMB business customers. UMB, a unit of Kansas...

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT FINES MBNA CANADA.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, a federal agency that protects consumers' interests, ordered MBNA Canada to pay a C$50,000 fine after determining that the card issuer violated a provision of the country's Bank Act, an agency...

DOJ APPROVES ONE ASPECT OF BANK ONE - J.P. MORGAN CHASE MERGER.(Department of Justice)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... The U.S. Department of Justice approved one aspect, but it is still investigating another, in the proposed merger of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank One Corp. The $60 billion merger, if approved, would create one of the nation's largest card...

WASHINGTON MUTUAL LAUNCHES CHECK CARD PROGRAM FOR SCHOOLS.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Washington Mutual Inc., a Seattle-based bank, today announced the March 8 launch of a program in which local schools are rewarded financially for customers' Visa check card usage. Bank officials say its WaMoola for Schools program could deliver...

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND PBS ARE INVESTIGATING THE CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... The New York Times and PBS-TV's Frontline investigative documentary program are investigating the credit card industry, according to a story in the March 7 Times. The timing and depth of the investigation isn't now known, according to a...

MBNA CEO CAWLEY FORCED OUT OVER SPENDING, TIMES REPORTS.(chief executive officer)
March 19, 2004... Charles M. Cawley, co-founder, president and CEO of MBNA Corp., stepped down from the second-largest U.S. card issuer in December after losing a battle with MBNA's board over his personal use of company resources, according to an investigative...

CITIGROUP OPENING NEW SITES FOR CARD OPERATIONS.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Citigroup Inc. is expanding call-center and customer-service operations for its credit card business in three cities, a Citibank spokesperson tells CardLine. The facilities either will replace former Sears, Roebuck and Co. call centers, or, in...

CHARTER ONE TO ADD WAL-MART BRANCHES.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Charter One Financial Inc. this week announced an agreement to add 67 new branches in Wal-Mart stores ach store will house a Charter One ATM plus any other ATMs Wal-Mart may want to deploy, says Andy Gaines, vice president of retail development...

AMEX PROPOSES $66 MILLION SETTLEMENT OF FOREIGN-CURRENCY TRANSACTION LAWSUITS.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... American Express Co. has proposed a $66 million settlement of several class-action lawsuits concerning foreign-currency transactions. The New York City-based issuer submitted the settlement proposal to the U.S. District Court for the Southern...

BJ'S WARNS CUSTOMERS ABOUT A COMPUTER BREAK-IN.(BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.-Credit Cards)(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. Friday warned customers who have credit card information on file with the Natick, MA, chain that hackers breached its computer system and that card information may have been stolen. In a statement, BJ's said, "it...

COINSTAR BUYS CELLCARDS OF ILLINOIS.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Coinstar Inc.has purchased CellCards of Illinois, one of the nation's largest distributors of prepaid cards for cellular and long-distance providers, from its parent company American Payment Systems for an undisclosed price, Rich Stillman,...

HEALTH-BENEFIT CARDS MAY PROVIDE PROCESSORS WITH VITAMINS.(Brief Article)
March 19, 2004... Magnetic-striped identification cards with payment capabilities for medical accounts offer a huge potential for processors, Frank D'Angelo, executive vice president and group executive of the electronic funds group at Metavante Corp., tells...