Cardline articles from March 2005

Cardline archives from March 2005

NCR AGREES TO BUY TIDEL'S ATM ASSETS FOR $10.2 MILLION AND ASSUME ITS DEBT.(NCR Corp. acquires Tidel Technologies Inc.)
March 4, 2005... NCR Corp. has entered into agreement to purchase Tidel Technologies Inc.'s ATM assets for $10.2 million and to assume millions of dollars of the company's debt CR announced its planned acquisition today of Tidel Engineering, Tidel's ATM...

MASTERCARD CANADA SAYS ITS CHIP TECHNOLOGY IS IN PLACE.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... MasterCard says its chip technology is ready for implementation in Canada. "We could do a chip transaction tomorrow, we wouldn't have to do anything," Kevin Stanton, MasterCard Canada's president, tells CardLine today. MasterCard Canada's...

INGENICO BUYS STAKE IN SWISS TERMINAL MAKER WITH AN EYE TOWARDS THE FUTURE.(Groupe INGENICO acquires XA)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Ingenico has purchased a 51% stake in Swiss payment terminal-maker XA as a way of gaining a foothold in Switzerland's market as the country begins its transition to the EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) smart- card standard, an Ingenico...

CARD RECEIVABLES DROP AT CIBC IN THE FIRST QUARTER BECAUSE OF SECURTIZATION.(Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Credit card receivables during the first quarter at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's largest Visa issuer, were $8.2 billion, down 12% from $9.4 billion for the same three-month period last year. Receivables dropped because of a...

PIPELINE DATA SAYS IT WILL PURCHASE TWO MERCHANT PORTFOLIOS.(Pipeline Data Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Pipeline Data Inc., the Braintree, MA, processor, said yesterday that it had entered into agreements to purchase two merchant portfolios totaling 1,500 accounts from two independent sales organizations, whose names Pipeline Data did not...

EURONET'S 2004 NET INCOME INCREASES 55%.(Euronet Worldwide Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Euronet Worldwide Inc., the Leawood, KS-based ATM operator and processor of secure electronic-financial transactions, reported 2004 net income of $18.4 million, up 56% compared with $11.8 million in 2003. Revenues for 2004 were $381.1 million,...

AMERICAN EXPRESS HIRES ERNST & YOUNG TO ASSIST IN SPINOFF.(American Express Financial Advisors's public accountant selected )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... American Express Co., which is spinning off American Express Financial Advisors to shareholders, yesterday disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has hired Ernst & Young LLP as AEFA's public accountant rnst &...

BANK OF AMERICA LOSES BACKUP CARD DATA ...(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Bank of America, one of five banks that issues credit cards to federal government employees under a contract with the General Services Administration, has lost tapes containing backup data for the Visa travel and procurement credit card...

WHILE MBNA EUROPE MAILS CREDIT CARDS TO THE WRONG INDIVIDUALS.(MBNA Europe Bank Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... MBNA Europe accidentally mailed hundreds of its United Kingdom customers other individuals credit cards last week. A spokesperson tells CardLine that the cards were sent out by a third-party processor that was responsible for the error. "It...

FEDERATED WEIGHS OPTIONS FOR CARD PROGRAMS.(Federated Department Stores Inc. to merge with May Department Stores Co.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Federated Department Stores Inc., which has been evaluating whether to sell or keep its private-label credit card program, said any decision it makes also will apply to The May Department Stores Company's card program now that the two retailers...

HSBC REPORTS 2004 EARNINGS.(HSBC Holdings PLC)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... HSBC Holding Plc, which owns HSBC North America, formerly known as Household International Inc., today reported a 2004 before-tax profit of $17.6 billion, up 38% compared with $12.8 billion in 2003. HSBC Consumer Finance, which includes its...

CREDIT UNION SELLS CARD PROGRAM AFTER GIVING IT THE OLD COLLEGE TRY.(PIMA Federal Credit Union )(InfiCorp.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... PIMA Federal Credit Union sold its credit card program to InfiCorp and entered into an agent relationship with the company, James Knoff, PIMA's president, tells CardLine today. PIMA, which is based in Tucson, AZ, had 5,000 credit card accounts...

ABBEY CARD ISSUING DOWN.(bank loses credit card customers)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Abbey, the United Kingdom bank bought by Spain's Santander last year, says new credit card openings were down last year compared with 2003. But new account openings picked up in the second half of the year in comparison to the first half, Abbey...

FIRST DATA SIGNS THREE-YEAR DEAL WITH SPEEDPASS.(Speedpass Network)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... First Data Corp. signed a new three-year agreement with Speedpass Network, a venture of Exxon Mobil Corp., a First Data spokesperson tells CardLine today. Speedpass is a keyfob that a customer waves in front of the gas pump or cash register to...

PROVIDIAN SAYS IT WILL RESTATE EARNINGS FOR FOUR YEARS.(Providian Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Card issuer Providian Financial Corp. will restate its earnings for the fiscal years ended Dec. 31, 2000, through Dec. 31, 2003, and the first three quarters in 2004, Ellen Richey, vice chairman of enterprise risk management, tells CardLine...

TAIWAN BANK RIDES VISA'S CONTACTLESS WAVE.(Chinatrust Commercial Bank to test Visa International's Visa Wave smart cards)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Chinatrust Commercial Bank in Taiwan plans to test the Visa Wave contactless smart card with 25,000 credit cardholders and 150 merchants, Visa International's Asia-Pacific region announced today. Taiwan becomes the second market to announce a...

TNS WINS OUTSOURCING CONTRACT IN ITALY.(Cedecra Group outsources transaction data to Transaction Network Services Inc., )(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Cedecra Group, which provides outsourced information technology services for 97 regional banks in Italy, has agreed to outsource transmission of its card and loyalty transaction data to Transaction Network Services Inc., Giovanni Miste, TNS's...

OTI WINS CONTACTLESS ORDER FROM HYPERCOM.(On Track Innovations Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Israel-based On Track Innovations Ltd. today announced an order for "commercial quantities" of OTI's contactless reader modules from Hypercom Corp., the Phoenix-based marketer of payment terminals. The reader modules, which utilize radio...

VERIFONE COMPLETES PURCHASE OF GO SOFTWARE.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Payment terminal maker VeriFone Inc. completed its purchase of GO Software, which widens VeriFone's product line, a company spokesperson tells CardLine today. VeriFone announced in December that it had agreed to purchase GO Software for $13...

TRANSACTION SYSTEMS ARCHITECTS MAY HAVE FOUND NEW CEO.(chief executive officer Gregory D. Derkacht retires)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Transaction Systems Architects Inc., which develops software electronic payments, said yesterday in an U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has found a possible candidate to replace CEO Gregory D. Derkacht, who has announced...

PIPELINE DATA HIRES COMPLIANCE OFFICER.(Pipeline Data Processing Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Pipeline Data Processing Inc. has named Jeffry A. Beene chief compliance officer. Beene will be responsible for all operational risk management functions, including security, collection and credit underwriting. Before joining Pipeline, Beene...

MASTERCARD INC. REPORTS A PROFIT OF $238 MILLION IN 2004.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... MasterCard Inc., parent company of MasterCard International, has recovered in style from the merchant class-action lawsuit by posting a 2004 net profit of $238 million compared with a net loss of $386 million in 2003, Chris McWilton,...

SIMON SAYS SETTLEMENT IS OK.(Simon Property Group's out of court agreement with Eliot Spitzer)
March 4, 2005... Gift card issuer and shopping mall owner Simon Property Group yesterday reached an out-of-court settlement with the New York attorney general concerning the Simon Visa Giftcard liot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, sued Simon Property...

U.S. BANK ADDS WINGS TO ITS FLEET CARDS.(Multi Service Corp. acquired by Minneapolis based company)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... U.S. Bank purchased the aircraft credit card business of Multi Service Corp. for an undisclosed price, Robert Abele, executive vice president for U.S. Bank's Corporate Payment Systems, tells CardLine today. The Minneapolis-based financial...

TSS COMPLETES PURCHASE OF VISA STAKE IN VITAL FOR $95 MILLION.(Total System Services Inc. buys stake of Visa USA Inc in Vital Processing Services LLC)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Processor Total System Services Inc. (TSS) today announced that it has its purchase of the 50% equity stake Visa USA owned in Vital Processing Services. According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, TSS, which is based in...

HBOS GROWS ITS CREDIT CARD BUSINESS.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... The United Kingdom bank, HBOS, has announced impressive results for its credit card business in 2004. The bank says in a statement that it intends to expand its presence in "higher quality segments" of the U.K. credit card market. These...

U.S. BANK SIGNS CARD DEAL WITH BOSTON UNIVERSITY.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... U.S. Bank has signed an agreement to issue a credit card for Boston University alumni, parents of alumni and friends of alumni, a spokesperson tells CardLine ach time a cardholder uses the Visa-branded card to make a purchase, an undisclosed...

VISA WILL ACCEPT RETURNS WHEN MERCHANTS DON'T.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Visa USA today introduced a new optional enhancement for Visa cardholders. The enhancement, which is called Return Protection allows cardholders to return items paid for with a Visa card and receive full reimbursement. The purchase must be...

HYPERCOM REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND 2004 EARNINGS.
March 4, 2005... Hypercom Corp. this morning announced fourth-quarter net income of $4.5 million, down 48.3% from $8.7 million in the same period last year et revenue for the quarter totaled $79.7 million, up 25.7% from $63.4 million during 2003's same period....

U.K. CARDHOLDERS DONATE MORE THAN PN100 MILLION FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Individuals in the United Kingdom used their credit and debit cards to donate over PN100 million ($190.4 million) to tsunami relief in January, a spokesperson for the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) , tells CardLine today....

PURCHASE MEANS COMDATA IS DRIVEN LESS BY FLEET CARDS.(Comdata Corp. acquires Tranvia Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Card issuer and processor Comdata Corp. greatly expanded its processing capabilities yesterday with the purchase of Tranvia Inc., a Rock Island, IL-based processor, for an undisclosed price, Deby Samuels, Comdata's marketing director, tells...

VISA AND JCB AGREE ON DATA SECURITY STANDARDS.(JCB Company Ltd and Visa International)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Japanese credit card company JCB Co. Ltd. and the Asia-Pacific region of Visa International today announced an agreement on common cardholder data security standards for merchants, issuers and transaction processors in Japan. The standards are...

INGENICO POSTS GROWTH NUMBERS FOR 2004.(Ingenico Group)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Boosted by a 20% gain in sales in 2004 versus 2003, Ingenico Group, the France-based payment-terminals company, saw its operating income move into the black last year. Ingenico had an operating income of 17.2 million ($22.6 million) in 2004,...

PROFITS GROW SMARTLY AT CHIP CARD VENDOR.(Axalto)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... France-based smart card vendor Axalto today reported a net profit of $59.1 million for 2004, more than double its $25 million net income for 2003. The company lost $112.6 million in 2002. Company officials attribute the improved profits mainly...

ROGERS WIRELESS CONNECTS FROM AMEX CANADA.(American Express Canada Inc. and Rogers Wireless Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2005... Amex Canada has added cell phone operator Rogers Wireless to its Small Business Savings Program. Rogers Wireless has 5.5 million customers in Canada. Delta Hotels, Dell Canada, FedEx, Hertz and office supplies company Corporate Express are...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
March 4, 2005... Today's edition of CardLine incorrectly stated that the Multi Service Card would become part of U.S. Bank's Voyager Fleet Systems. The Multi Service Card complements Voyager, but Multi Service will not become a part of Voyager. The card also...

CHASE WILL RAISE THE MINIMUM MONTHLY PAYMENT ON ITS CREDIT CARDS.(Chase Card Services)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Chase Card Services, the nation's largest credit card issuer, says it will make changes to its minimum payment rates as required by the Federal Financial Institutions Council, an interagency organization of federal regulators that issued rules...

PANASONIC IS INSTALLING CONTACTLESS READERS ON GAS PUMPS FOR STORE OPERATOR.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Panasonic Industrial Co. is installing contactless chip card technology on convenience store owner Sheetz Inc.'s 3,100 gas pumps, Robin Sweeten, Panasonic Industrial's group manager for strategic marketing, tells CardLine today. The Gilbarco...

CREDIT CARDS WILL DOMINATE CONTACTLESS IN ASIA, REPORT PREDICTS.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Credit card companies have the inside track in the emerging field of contactless payments in Asia, but mobile phone companies remain a threat, according to a report by Hong Kong-based Fusion Consulting. Credit card networks have the advantage...

CHASE CARD SERVICES REPORTS PRETAX INCOME OF $2.7 BILLION IN 2004.(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Card Services achieved 2004 pretax income of $2.7 billion, Bill Campbell, chairman of Chase Card Services, recently told analysts. Campbell said profits grew 22% and that Chase Card Services controlled 19.7% of...

POLISH BANK PLACES ORDER WITH AUSTRIA CARD.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Bank BPH of Poland has signed a five-year agreement to buy 5 million payment cards from Austria Card, the Vienna-based card vendor announced today. The bank is beginning its conversion to smart cards and 3 million of the cards will be chip...

LLOYDS TSB GROWS CARD PORTFOLIO.(Lloyds TSB Group PLC)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... United Kingdom bank Lloyds TSB says its credit card portfolio increased last year, accompanied by a larger bad debt charge and lower interest margins. Credit card balances as of Dec. 31, 2004, were PN7.5 billion (US$14.4 billion) an increase of...

CERTEGY WILL PROVIDE CHECK-AUTHORIZATION SERVICES FOR TWO SUPERMARKET CHAINS.(Burno and BI-LO Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Certegy Inc. has signed an agreement to provide check authorization and collection services for BI-LO and Burno's retail-food outlets, which are owned by the same company. Certegy will provide up-front check authorization through its Pathways...

CITI MAILS 1 MILLION LETTERS IN ERROR TO CARDHOLDERS.(card-issuing arm of Citibank)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Citi, the card-issuing arm of Citibank, mailed about 1 million letters to cardholders in January erroneously informing them that it had reported negative information about their card accounts to credit bureaus. Citi subsequently mailed letters...

CAPITAL ONE REACHES AGREEMENT TO BUY A BANK, GIVING CAPITAL ONE A PRESENCE IN RETAIL BANKING.
March 11, 2005... Capital One Financial Corp., which has been diversifying from credit card issuing, announced Sunday that it had reached a definitive agreement to purchase Hibernia Corp., Louisiana's largest bank and one of Texas' largest, for cash and stock in...

CAPITAL ONE'S DEAL MAY ENCOURAGE MORE ISSUERS TO BUY RETAIL BANKS.(Capital One Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Capital One Financial Corp. is the first monoline credit card issuer to buy a bank, and some experts say the purchase may spark a trend among other issuers that want to get into the growing debit card market. "To my knowledge, Capital One is...

HIBERNIA WOULD PROVIDE CAPITAL ONE A DEBIT CARD BASE.(Capital One Financial Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Capital One's planned acquisition of Hibernia also will provide the credit card company access to a debit card portfolio, which CardLine sister publication ATM&Debit News estimates at 721,000 cards. During an analysts' conference call this...

A STRING OF PURCHASES MAKES CAPITAL ONE THE DIVERSE ONE.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Capital One Financial Corp.'s acquisition of Hibernia Corp. is the largest in a series of moves to expand beyond cards by the McLean, VA-based financial services company. The $5.3 billion purchase of Hibernia will make Cap One the ninth largest...

CHOICEPOINT WON'T SELL SENSITIVE DATA.
March 11, 2005... Data broker ChoicePoint, under fire for a security breach that allowed crooks access to the personal data of more than 145,000 consumers, announced plans Friday to stop - except in certain cases - selling such sensitive consumer data such as...

SWEDISH TRANSIT AGENCY AWARDS $21.8 MILLION CONTRACT TO CUBIC.(Skanetrafiken)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Skanetrafiken, a Swedish transit operator, has awarded Cubic Transportation Systems Ltd. a $21.8 million contract to design, deliver and implement a smart card-based fare collection system to be called Resekortet. The contactless card system...

MASTERCARD APPLIES TO BECOME IRS QUALIFIED PAYMENT CARD AGENT.(MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... MasterCard International applied today to become an Internal Revenue Service Qualified Payment Card Agent in a bid to better serve business customers. As an IRS approved agent, MasterCard will be authorized to gather and validate merchant...

THREE CREDIT UNIONS MOVE CARD PROGRAMS TO TNB'S PROCESSING PLATFORM.(United Health Services, GaPac Employees Federal Credit Union and Horizon Credit Union)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Three credit unions, with a total of 5,000 credit card accounts, have converted their card portfolios from other processors to TNB Card Services' processing platform, a TNB spokesperson tells CardLine today. United Health Services of Spokane,...

MASTERCARD CAUTIONS ACQUIRERS ON ONLINE TOBACCO SALES.(MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... MasterCard International today issued a customer bulletin warning acquirers of online tobacco merchants of the heightened risk of illegal activity such retailers pose. MasterCard noted that financial institutions can continue to provide...

2004 WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR FOR ELAN, AND THE COMPANY PREDICTS 2005 WILL BE EVEN BETTER.(Elan Financial Services)
March 11, 2005... Elan Financial Services, a unit of U.S. Bancorp that buys credit card portfolios, celebrated with a lot of champagne and confetti last year, primarily because of the number of credit unions that sold Elan their card programs. "We feel we had a...

UK CRIMINALS KNOW THE CARDS ARE IN THE MAIL.
March 11, 2005... Debit and credit card fraud in the United Kingdom rose by 20% in 2004 to PN505 million (US$959.5 million), with some of the increase due to thieves intercepting more of the new chip-and-PIN cards that issuers are mailing out to consumers. Mail...

45% OF CARDHOLDERS ARE PAYING THE MINIMUM OR NOTHING.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Some 45% of consumers are making minimum monthly payments or not making payments at all on their credit cards, according to Cambridge Consumer Credit Index's March survey, which was released yesterday. The figure is up from 42% in March 2004,...

JANUARY'S REVOLVING CREDIT WAS $801.4 BILLION.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Revolving credit, which is mostly credit card debt, was a seasonally adjusted $801.4 billion in January, up from $796 billion in December, the Federal Reserve reported yesterday onrevolving credit, which consists of automobile loans, was a...

PAKISTANI BANK WILL USE WELCOME SOFTWARE IN ITS CHIP CARD.(United Bank Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... United Bank Limited, a Pakistani bank with more than 3.5 million customers that issued its first Visa chip credit card in February, is using Welcome Real-time's XLS software. UBL will issue between 300,000 and 500,000 chip cards over the next...

ASTA FUNDING PURCHASES OPTION CARD.(Option Card LLC)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Asta Funding Inc., one of five publicly traded bad-debt buyers, acquired Option Card LLC, a Denver-based consumer debt buyer and debt management firm, for $13.5 million. The deal includes portfolios of distressed consumer receivable debt,...

TA ASSOCIATES DEPOSITS $75 MILLION INTO CARDTRONICS' ATMS.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... TA Associates, a private equity firm, invested $75 million in Cardtronics Inc., the nation's largest independent owner and operator of ATMS, the two companies announced yesterday. Cardtronics, which is based in Houston, will use the money for...

TWO MORE DATABASE THEFTS GIVE CONGRESS A LOT TO TALK ABOUT TOMORROW.(LexisNexis Group)(Retail Ventures Inc.)
March 11, 2005... Database break-ins this week at LexisNexis and Retail Ventures Inc., owner of DSW Shoe Warehouse, are the latest in a series of security breaches reported since the theft of consumer information housed by ChoicePoint came to light last month....

COINSTAR'S LATEST DEAL GIVES IT STRENGTH IN THE WEST.(Coinstar Inc.)(Mundo Communications Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Coinstar Inc. has purchased Mundo Communications Inc., an issuer of prepaid cards, in a deal that will give Coinstar a much stronger presence on the West Coast, a Coinstar spokesperson tells CardLine today. "We have a presence on the West...

NOVA EXTENDS RELATIONSHIP WITH COSTCO NORTH OF THE BORDER.(Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.)(Nova Information Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Nova Information Systems Canada is selling its card processing services to small business owners through Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd., a retail membership-store chain that markets services to small companies. Small businessmen, such as a...

PHILIP HEASLEY LANDS ON HIS FEET AFTER TWO YEARS.(credit card industry)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Software developer Transaction System Architects Inc. used its annual meeting yesterday to introduce credit card industry veteran Philip Heasley as the company's new president and CEO. Heasley began his duties yesterday, replacing outgoing CEO...

BANKS BOOST SMART CARD PROFITS AT OBERTHUR.(Oberthur Card Systems)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... France-based smart card vendor Oberthur Card Systems today reported a net profit of 25.1 million euros (US$33.8 million) for 2004, up by nearly 33% from the year before. The vendor credited higher sales of banking smart cards and cost-control...

EMERGING ECONOMIES BUY CARD TERMINALS.(Groupe INGENICO)(Keycorp Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Two payment terminal vendors today reported sales in emerging markets. France-based Ingenico says it closed deals so far this year in Turkey for a total of 100,000 terminals, more than it shipped to that country in all of 2004. Ingenico, ranked...

HSBC-NORTH AMERICA RENEWS CONTRACT.(Household Finance Corp.)(Domain Home Fashions)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... HSBC-North America's retail services business announced yesterday that it renewed its relationship to manage a private-label card program for Domain Home Fashions, a Boston-based furniture chain with 30 stores nationwide, a HSBC spokesperson...

VOTE EXPECTED TODAY ON CARD INDUSTRY-BACKED BANKRUPTCY BILL.(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... The U.S. Senate is voting on bankruptcy reform legislation this hour in what is shaping up to be a major victory for the credit card industry. The sponsor of the measure, Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-IA), spoke to CardLine shortly before entering...

DISCOVER TIPPED DSW AFTER DISCOVERING SECURITY BREACH.(DSW Shoe Warehouse)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Discover Card is credited with alerting DSW Shoe Warehouse about the security breach involving the theft of credit card information from a database of 103 DSW stores, says Kurt Douglass, a Secret Service special agent in charge of the agency's...

AT&T SETS ASIDE $553 MILLION FOR PREPAID LONG-DISTANCE CARD PROGRAM.(AT&T Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... AT&T Corp. today disclosed in an U.S. Securities Exchange Commission filing that it has set aside $553 million to cover penalties related to AT&T's prepaid long-distance calling card program. AT&T made the filing following last month's decision...

COMPANIES COMBINE CONTACTLESS PAYMENT AND LOYALTY.(Smart System Technologies)(Dexit Inc.)
March 11, 2005... Two companies have agreed to work together to offer contactless prepaid payment and loyalty products that North American consumers will be able to wave past radio frequency-enabled readers. Toronto-based Dexit Inc. brings its expertise in...

PLATINUM CARD BRINGS IN MORE GOLD FOR MASSACHUSETTS CREDIT UNION.(Northern Massachusetts Telephone Workers' Credit Union)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... A yearlong series of promotions at Northern Massachusetts Telephone Workers Credit Union substantially boosted total card balances on credit union-issued credit cards, a spokesperson for PSCU Financial Services tells CardLine today. PSCU, a St....

ALLIANCE DATA SIGNS CARD AGREEMENT WITH Z GALLERIE.(Alliance Data Systems Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Alliance Data Systems Corp. today announced signing a five-year agreement with Z Gallerie Inc. to develop a private-label card program for the Gardena, CA, home-furnishings retailer. Under the terms of the agreement, Alliance Data will develop...

CITI CARDS WILL CLOSE FACILITY IN DELAWARE.(Citigroup Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 11, 2005... Citigroup Inc.'s Citi Cards will close a facility in Pencader, DE, and transfer most, but not all, of the 450 jobs, to card facilities in Irving, TX, and Gray, TN, a Citi spokesperson tells CardLine today. The Pencader facility is scheduled to...

MASTERCARD OFFERS PERKS TO WEB MERCHANTS.(MasterCard International Inc.)
March 18, 2005... MasterCard International in October will begin offering a sizable reduction in interchange rates to Web merchants that adopt a MasterCard online security technology known as the Universal Authentication Field infrastructure, or UCAF. In a...

SENATE PASSES BANKRUPTCY BILL.(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... The credit card industry can collectively raise its corporate arms in triumph after the U.S. Senate last night voted to rewrite the nation's bankruptcy laws, making it harder for cardholders to dissolve their credit card debts in bankruptcy....

BIG HEARING ON ID THEFT CUT SHORT BECAUSE OF SCHEDULING CONFLICTS.(United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs's meeting on identity theft issues)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... The U.S. Senate turned its attention yesterday to identity theft and the recent high-profile security breaches of consumer data at a meeting of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that was cut short due to scheduling conflicts....

ERNEX, SIVA IN RESTAURANT LOYALTY DEAL ERNEX, SIVA IN RESTAURANT LOYALTY DEAL.(SIVA Corp. adapts Ernex's loyalty and gift card technology)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Ernex, the loyalty and gift card program unit of Canadian processor Moneris Solutions, has formed a North America-wide alliance with SIVA Corp., a supplier of restaurant software. Under the agreement, SIVA will integrate Ernex's loyalty and...

MBNA ISSUES CARD FOR MORTGAGE COMPANY.(United Financial Mortgage Corp. issues credit cards through MBNA Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... United Financial Mortgage Corp., an originator and servicer of residential and commercial mortgages, is offering a credit card through MBNA Corp. that helps cardholders pay down their UFM mortgage balances. MBNA is issuing the United Financial...

SHELL MASTERCARD PROMOTION DECLARED A SUCCESS.(Shell Oil Co.; MasterCard International Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... A three-month promotion of Shell MasterCard, which is issued by Citi Cards, resulted in increased transactions and more individuals applying for the card, although a spokesperson for Shell Oil Products US is short on specifics. The promotion,...

PROCESSOR HIRES DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.(Acies Corp. appoints Marc Beaucamp)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Payments processor Acies Corp. has named columnist, author and consultant Marc Beaucamp director of business development. Beaucamp is co-author of the book "How To Survive and Thrive in the Merchant Services Industry," and he publishes a...

MASTERCARD AND VISA HARMONIZE CONTACTLESS TECHNOLOGY.(MasterCard International Inc., Visa International)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... MasterCard International and Visa International announced today they will use a common communications protocol for contactless payment cards and other devices that consumers wave by or tap on readers. That should help vendors develop and obtain...

NOVA OFFERS TOURISTS ON-THE-SPOT CURRENCY CONVERSION.(Nova Information Systems Inc. )(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... Payment processor Nova Information Systems today announced that it is offering its Dynamic Currency Conversion service for the first time in the United States to tourists carrying cards issued by foreign banks. Dynamic Currency Conversion...

ISSUERS WILL REIMBURSE CARDHOLDERS FOR FAILED CANADIAN AIRLINE.(MasterCard Canada, Visa Canada and American Express)(Brief Article)
March 18, 2005... MasterCard Canada, Visa Canada and American Express say they will refund individuals who used their credit cards to purchase tickets on Jetsgo, the low-cost Canadian airline that suddenly went out of the business Friday night. "Visa cardholders...