Cardline articles from October 2003

Cardline archives from October 2003

JUDGE DEALS ANOTHER SETBACK TO DO-NOT-CALL.
October 3, 2003... Timothy J. Muris, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, today said U.S. District Court Judge Edward W ottingham's do-not-call list ruling "would effectively cripple virtually every do-not-call registry in the United States, whether state or...

FIRST PREMIER AGREES TO LIMIT SUBPRIME PORTFOLIO.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Sioux Falls, SD-based United National Corp. and its affiliates, including First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard Inc., will limit growth in the bank's subprime Visa and MasterCard portfolio under an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of...

METRIS CUTS STAFF TO ACHIEVE PROFITABILITY.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Metris Companies Inc. today announced it is cutting its workforce by about 65 positions, citing the company's commitment to returning to profitability. In a message to employees of the Minnetonka, MN-based subprime issuer, Chairman and CEO,...

VISA, NOKIA PILOT MOBILE PAYMENTS.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Nordea Bank Finland Plc began a six-month pilot this month of a mobile-phone payment system with Visa International and Nokia, the world's leading manufacturer of cellular telephones. The pilot has about 20 merchant participants in Lahti, a...

BART GETS ON BOARD WITH BAY AREA SMART CARD PROJECT.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... A compromise reached this week paves the way for the long-awaited rollout next year of a smart card that commuters can use on several major transit systems in the San Francisco Bay Area. The region's largest operator, Bay Area Rapid Transit...

WIRELESS PAYMENT SYSTEM FOR MICROPAYMENTS LAUNCHED IN TORONTO.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... In Toronto this week, Dexit Inc. launched a wireless payment system for micropayments. The Dexit is intended for transactions in the C$5 range, Renah Persofsky, chairman and CEO, tells CardLine today. "This replaces cash," Persofsky says. The...

FIRST DATA DENIES THAT IT PLANS TO SELL ITS INTEREST IN NYCE.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... First Data Corp. today is denying a Wall Street Journal story that it has offered to sell its majority interest in the NYCE EFT network. First Data reportedly made the offer in order to win U.S. Department of Justice approval for its purchase...

PRESIDENT TO SIGN DO-NOT-CALL LEGISLATION; FCC WILL ENFORCE IT.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... President George W. Bush today was scheduled to sign into law a national do-not-call bill, a White House spokesperson tells CardLine. The signing ceremony was to take place about 3 -30 p.m. (ET) at the White House, the spokesperson says. Before...

METRIS TO SELL FEDERALLY INSURED DEPOSITS.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Metris Companies Inc. late Friday announced that it has reached an agreement to sell the federally insured deposits in its Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank as part of an agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Minnetonka,...

FIRST PREMIER BANK TAKES STEPS TO ADDRESS FED CONCERNS.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... First Premier Bank and its affiliate, Premier Bankcard, already have taken steps to address items cited in a Sept. 23 agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says Miles K. Beacom, president and CEO of Premier Bankcard (CardLine...

MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT PARKING LOT LAUNCHES CARD-OPERATED SYSTEM.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... The Minneapolis St. Paul Airport last week put into a regular service a system that allows motorists to open gates to its parking lots with either a credit or debit card, Arlie Johnson, assistant airport director for landside operations, tells...

JCB ISSUES COBRANDED CARD IN TAIWAN.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... JCB International Co. Ltd., the international arm of JCB Co. Ltd., Japan's largest card issuer, last week announced that it is issuing a cobranded credit card with the Taiwan Cooperative Bank. The card is called the Taiwan Cooperative Bank JCB...

NYCE NETWORK SIGNS ANOTHER ATM AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... The NYCE network today announced that it has signed an agreement with Cardtronics Inc., of Houston, to place the NYCE trademark on 12,000 ATMs Cardtronics operates in merchant locations. Membership in the NYCE network fits Cardtronics' strategy...

KEYBANK EXEC NAMED TO MASTERCARD DEBIT ADVISORY BOARD.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... MasterCard International recently announced that it had named Daniel J eistadt, executive vice president of consumer payment sales at Cleveland-based KeyBank, to its Debit Advisory Board. The 18-member board, represented by debit card issuers...

JUDGE RULES FCC CANNOT USE FTC'S DO-NOT-CALL LIST.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... U.S. District Court Judge Edward W ottingham late yesterday ruled that the Federal Communications Commission cannot use the Federal Trade Commission's do-not-call list of numbers telemarketers are banned from calling. Judge Nottingham, of...

ISSUERS HAVE TO COMPLY WITH USA PATRIOT ACT RULES TOMORROW.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Card issuers will have to verify the identities of their customers to comply with final rules of the USA Patriot Act. The rules, developed by the U.S. Treasury Department and financial regulators, go into effect tomorrow, Nancy M. Smith, a...

MORE PROPERTY MANAGERS ACCEPT CARD PAYMENTS FOR RENT.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... The number of property owners who offer tenants the option to pay their monthly rent with either a credit or debit card increased 43% in June compared with a year ago, Visa USA says. More than 1,000 properties with 350,000 total rental units...

HOUSEHOLD MARKETS PRIVATE-LABEL SONY CARD.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Household International's Retail Services unit this month began issuing a private-label credit card for Sony Corp. of America's retail stores, Richard Klesse, national director of sales, tells CardLine. Household bought the portfolio from GE...

PEPPERCOIN RAISES MONEY.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Peppercoin Inc., the Waltham, MA, micropayments company, yesterday announced that it has raised $4.25 million from POD Holding, a private-equity firm headquartered in Boston and Stockholm, and from other private investors. So far this year,...

CONCORD OFFERS MONTHLY PAYMENT PLAN FOR ATMS.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Concord EFS Inc., the largest driver of ATMs, today announced that it is marketing an end-to-end package of ATM services that does not require the purchaser to make a large up-front investment. In a news release, Concord said that ATM deployers...

NACHA ELECTS CHAIRMAN OF E-CHECK STEERING COUNCIL.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... NACHA-The Electronic Payments Association has elected Dennis Simmons, Accredited ACH Professional president and CEO of SWACHA-The Electronic Payments Resource, chairman of the steering committee of NACHA's Electronic Check Council. "E-checks...

AMEX APPLIES TRAVELERS-CHECK CONCEPT TO A PREPAID CARD.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... American Express Co. today announced the launch of TravelFunds, a reloadable prepaid card for travelers. The card, which is available in dollars, euros and British pounds, can be used at the millions of merchant locations and 550,000 ATMs...

VISA IMPLEMENTS NEW SMALL-TICKET INTERCHANGE CATEGORY.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... To help drive growth of Visa card acceptance, Visa USA today implemented a new, optional interchange category for electronically authorized purchases under $15 at quick-service restaurants, parking lots and garages, motion-picture theaters,...

FTC FILES APPEAL CONCERNING DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that it has filed a motion for an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concerning the do-not-call registry to limit telemarketing calls. The FTC asked the 10th Circuit in Denver for an...

HILARY HAS HER OWN VISA CARD .. O, NOT THAT HILLARY.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Teenage actress, Hilary Duff, has her own movie, and now she has her own prepaid card. Duff, who starred in the summer movie Lizzie McGuire, today announced the launch of the Hilary Duff Visa gift card. The prepaid card is designed for teens,...

PSCU OFFERS DEBIT-REWARDS PLATFORM.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest credit-union service organization, is offering a debit card rewards platform to its more than 500 members, a spokesperson tells CardLine today. The platform, which is called CURewards for...

SOLIDUS CHANGES ITS NAME TO THE MORE UNDERSTANDABLE PAY BY TOUCH.
October 3, 2003... Biometrics provider, Solidus Networks Inc., has renamed itself Pay By Touch after the payment system it has been operating in a West Seattle, WA, grocery store, Craig Ramsey, the company's new CEO, tells CardLine today. Ramsey, who joined the...

C2IT SAYS 'SEE YA'.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Citigroup Inc. will drop its c2it person-to-person online payment service Nov. 9. C2it will remain available to consumers until Feb. 22 so consumers can review their accounts, according to a Citi spokesperson. The three-year-old system never...

MBNA, PROVIDIAN TEAM UP TO OFFER AN EBAY REWARDS CARD.
October 3, 2003... MBNA Corp. and Providian National Bank, a subsidiary of Providian Financial Corp., today announced that they both will issue a rewards card for eBay Inc., the San Jose, CA, online auction house. The card, which is called the Anything Points...

DEAN RAISES $7.5 MILLION OVER THE INTERNET IN THE THIRD QUARTER.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Howard Dean, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, raised $14.8 million in political contributions during the third quarter, including $7.5 million made with credit card donations over the Internet, sources tell CardLine. Dean...

FCC FORMS DO-NOT-CALL ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... The Federal Communications Commission has formed a special team to enforce the FCC's do-not-call telemarketing rules, Michael K. Powell, chairman of the FCC, said today in a news release. Kurt Schroeder, deputy chief of the FCC's...

CONGRESS EXPECTED TO APPROVE CHECK-TRUNCATION BILL.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... It appears to be smooth sailing for legislation backed by the Federal Reserve Board that could dramatically alter the processing of checks and turn them into electronic transactions. The legislation, called the Check Truncation Act in the U.S....

LOYALTY GROUP OPENS ONLINE MALL.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Retail card processor Alliance Data Systems Corp. announced today that its Canadian subsidiary, The Loyalty Group, has launched yourshops.ca, an online shopping mall. Canadians can shop at over 20 stores at the mall, including Eddie Bauer,...

METRIS CLOSES SALE OF CDS.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Metris Companies Inc. has closed the sale of federally insured deposits in its Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank. Metris, which is based Minnetonka, MN, closed the sale Tuesday to an undisclosed buyer of approximately $550 million in brokered...

RENEW AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
October 3, 2003... Global eTelecom Inc., an electronic check-conversion company, today announced that it has renewed its agreement with processor Merchant Services Inc. According to the agreement, Global will continue to provide back-end check processing for...

RESEARCH FIRM CLAIMS MANY BANKS ILL-PREPARED FOR DO-NOT-CALL.
October 10, 2003... Many financial institutions are not ready to address the issues presented by the nation's new do-not-call registry of telephone numbers off limits to telemarketers, Celent Communications reports. According to the Boston-based financial and...

CONSUMERS ARE DIALING THE FCC FOR HELP.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Over the last two days, the Federal Communications Commission has received 2,700 requests from consumers who want the agency to add their telephone numbers to the national do-no-call registry, an FCC spokesperson tells CardLine today. But the...

CREDIT-COUNSELING AGENCIES AREN'T APPLYING FOR LICENSES IN MARYLAND.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Only 20 credit-counseling agencies have applied for licenses in Maryland under a new state law that regulates the industry, says Joseph Rooney, assistant commissioner for Maryland's division of financial regulation. "My suspicion is they don't...

GE WILL ISSUE STORE CARD FOR WAL-MART CANADA.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... GE Consumer Finance-Canada will issue a private-label credit card for Wal-Mart Canada and Sam's Club beginning this fall, both companies announced yesterday. Cardholders will be offered 90 days same-as-cash for purchases up to C$499. Wal-Mart...

CARD INDUSTRY PROMOTES CARD SAFETY.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... A television advertising campaign warning consumers about credit card theft is the first effort by Your Credit Card Companies, a coalition of MasterCard International, Discover Financial Services, Citigroup, MBNA America, Capital One Financial...

CERTEGY SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH THAI ISSUER.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Certegy Inc. has expanded its presence in Thailand by signing an eight-year agreement with Krungthai Card Public Company Ltd. in Bangkok. Krungthai will outsource to Certegy the processing of Krungthai's Visa and MasterCard credit cards and...

INFONOX PARTNERS WITH CHECKCLEAR.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Infonox, a Santa Clara, CA-based ATM software and technology provider, Thursday announced that it will partner with Checkclear Inc. to promote use of check imaging and image processing from deposit-taking ATMs. Infonox will certify its Active...

MARKS & SPENCER WILL CONVERT PRIVATE-LABEL CARD PROGRAM TO MASTERCARD.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... United Kingdom department store chain, Marks & Spencer, today launched a MasterCard-branded credit and loyalty card, with plans to convert its existing 2.6 million store charge cards to the new card within the next month. The conversion will...

FAIR ISAAC ACQUIRES MARKETING FIRM.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Fair Isaac Corp. has purchased in a competitive bidding process Seruat Company, a Boulder, CO-based marketing-services firm that filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, a Fair Isaac spokesperson tells CardLine today. "They were in bankruptcy...

CARD CHARGEOFFS REMAIN JUST ABOUT STEADY.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Moody's Investors Service today reported aggregate credit card chargeoffs remained just about steady in August at 6.88% of receivables, rising incrementally from the 6.87% reported in both June and July. Total delinquencies were 5.11% up, from...

COURT EXPECTED TO APPROVE OSI'S REORGANIZATION PLAN.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis is expected to formally approve in a week to 10 days the reorganization plans of Outsourcing Solutions Inc. (OSI), a spokesperson for the St. Louis-based collections...

TSYS, ONTARIO SYSTEMS SIGN CO-MARKETING AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Card processor Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) and collections and recovery software provider Ontario Systems LLC next week will launch a co-marketing agreement in which TSYS will offer various Ontario products and services to TSYS' creditor...

NETBANK CATCHES FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES INC.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... NetBank Inc. has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Financial Technologies Inc., a Jackson, MS, owner and servicer of ATMs, a NetBank spokesperson tells CardLine today etBank, an online bank based in Atlanta, will pay an undisclosed...

DESPITE WEAK ECONOMY, YOU GOTTA EAT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Despite the weak economy and a high jobless rate, credit and debit bank card sales at full-service restaurants jumped 20% between August 2002 and August 2003, according to a study prepared for Paymentech, the Dallas-based merchant acquirer. The...

GIFT CARD SOLUTIONS ISSUES CASH CARD.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Gift Card Solutions is issuing a cash card for HobbyTown USA whose transactions are routed over the Discover-Novus Network, John Bechard, Gift Card Solutions' chairman and CEO, tells CardLine today. The card, which is called the HobbyTown USA...

2002 GLOBAL CARD MARKET GREW 10% IN UNITS SHIPPED.
October 10, 2003... The global plastic card market grew by 10% in terms of units shipped in 2002, but only slightly in revenues, according to the International Card Manufacturers Association's Fifth Annual Card Manufacturing Global Market Survey. The survey...

JOB FEARS HAVE FEWER PEOPLE SAYING CHARGE IT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Feelings of job insecurity have led 33% of consumers to cut back on the use of their credit cards and their willingness to take on debt, Cambridge Consumer Credit Index reported today. "People are feeling the effect of what's going on in their...

SUMMER DOLDRUMS CONTINUE FOR REVOLVING CREDIT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Consumer revolving credit grew at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2.1% in August, the Federal Reserve reported this afternoon. While higher than the revised growth rates of 0.8% in July and a negative 2.4% in June, August's increase...

CHANGES IN BANKING LAWS BRING FREQUENT-FLIER CARDS DOWN TO EARTH.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... The ANZ Banking Group Ltd., issuer of Australia's most-popular frequent-flier card, the Qantas ANZ Visa, is cutting back on rewards offered through the program Oct. 31 because of changes in the country's banking laws. Under the new system, ANZ...

DUAL-CURRENCY CREDIT CARDS CATCH ON IN CHINA.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Ten Chinese issuers are offering credit cards that enable cardholders to pay in China's currency, the renminbi, while in China, and in a hard currency like U.S. or Hong Kong dollars when abroad, reports Access Asia, a United Kingdom-based...

FIRM AGREES TO PAY FTC $815,000.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... AllPreApproved.com, an Austin, TX-based company that e-mailed spam to consumers promising them credit cards for a payment of $49.95, agreed to pay the Federal Trade Commission $815,000 to settle FTC charges of scamming applicants. The FTC...

CO-OP CUTS PRICES, ELECTS NEW BOARD MEMBER.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... CO-OP Network yesterday announced price reductions for its support services and switch fees that will result in an estimated $4.5 million in cost savings for its 1,500 members. The price cut, which will take effect Nov. 1, is the second by...

FTC CAN ENFORCE DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that the Federal Trade Commission can enforce its do-not-call registry while the court decides if the registry violates the free-speech provisions of the First Amendment. The FTC had asked the...

THE FTC WILL BEGIN ENFORCING DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY.
October 10, 2003... Declaring that the federal do-not-call Registry is up and running, Federal Trade Commission Chairman, Timothy J. Muris, today said that the FTC will begin immediate enforcement of the registry that lists telephone numbers telemarketers are not...

FAIR ISAAC OFFERS ONLINE ID FRAUD PROTECTION.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Fair Isaac Corp. today launched an online service to protect consumers against identity fraud. The service, ID Fraud Intercept, detects identity theft early by monitoring 400 public and commercial databases for changes in a consumer's personal...

CIBC ISSUES A SMALL-BUSINESS CARD.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's largest Visa issuer, yesterday launched the CIBC bizline Visa, a no-fee credit card for small-business owners. The Bizline Visa is part of Toronto-based CIBC's small-business line-up that includes a...

WOMEN'S BUSINESS GROUP ENDORSES ADVANTA.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Women Impacting Public Policy, an Oklahoma City, OK-based group that lobbies for women business owners, recently endorsed business card issuer Advanta Corp. as the recommended card provider for its nearly 500,000 members. Financial terms of the...

MASTERCARD HAS CAT IN THE HAT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... MasterCard International's fourth- quarter promotion will include a tie-in with the upcoming Universal Studios film, "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat," a spokesperson for the Purchase, NY-based card association tells CardLine today very time a...

NPC FINDS THE BEEF AT HARDEE'S.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... National Processing Co. has signed a multi-year, card-processing agreement with Hardee's Food Systems Inc PC, a subsidiary of National Processing Inc., of Louisville, KY, will provide authorization and settlement services for Visa and...

PSCU HIRES VP OF CARD SALES.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest credit-union service organization, has hired Michael Gulledge as director of credit sales. Gulledge joined PSCU from Fidelity National Bank in Atlanta where he was vice president of card services....

CYBERSOURCE BECOMES PAYPAL'S PAL JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Online payment processor, CyberSource Corp., will offer its merchants the option to accept payments from PayPal Inc., the two companies announced today. PayPal, the online payment division of eBay Inc., has 31 million account holders. Mountain...

PAYPAL LAUNCHES U.K. WEB SITE.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... PayPal Inc. today announced that it has opened a Web site in the United Kingdom, the first of a series of steps designed to expand PayPal's presence across Europe. PayPal already has a large number of customers in the U.K. because buyers and...

JEWEL, ATA SING COME BUY AND FLY WITH ME.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... In the latest example of a grocery chain adding more utility to its loyalty card, Jewel-Osco has teamed with ATA Airlines Inc. to offer a buy-and-fly deal for users of the Jewel Preferred Card through Nov. 13. Cardholders who spend $50 will...

YOUR ATM MAY BE WATCHING YOU DIGITALLY.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... AOS Technologies America Inc., an affiliate of Tokyo-based Fujitsu Limited, which markets ATMs to banks in the U.S., is marketing a digital-video surveillance system at ATMs that can be monitored live by local police. Under the system, a live...

VISA, BANK ONE OFFER A DISNEY PROMOTION.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Bank One Corp. and Visa USA today announced a promotion to support the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort. The resort opened Oct. 1 in Lake Buena Vista, FL, near Orlando. Parents who use any Visa card to book a non-discounted Dream Maker...

HYPERCOM SELLS GOLDEN EAGLE LEASING FOR $30 MILLION.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... Terminal maker Hypercom Corp. today announced that it has sold its Golden Eagle Leasing Inc. micro-ticket business to Northern Leasing Systems Inc. for $30 million, Hypercom said in a news release. As a result of the transaction, Phoenix-based...

CARDINALCOMMERCE, TRANSFIRST SIGN AN AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
October 10, 2003... CardinalCommerce Corp. has signed a marketing agreement with TransFirst, a Dallas-based merchant processor. The agreement calls for TransFirst to offer to its customers CardinalCommerce's Cardinal Centinel payment authentication software. The...

TOP DOJ OFFICIALS COULD DETERMINE FATE OF FIRST DATA-CONCORD MERGER.(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... The merger of First Data Corp. and Concord EFS Inc. may come down to whether top U.S. Department of Justice officials reject staff recommendations. Sources familiar with the proposed merger tell CardLine that DOJ staff attorneys are...

MARKS AND SPENCER CHANGES ITS CARD-ISSUING WAYS.(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Marks and Spencer Financial Services plc has changed the way that it will replace the Marks & Spencer retail card after being admonished by the British government, a spokesperson for the Office of Fair Trading in London tells CardLine today....

MOBILE TESTS WILL EXPAND IN ASIA NEXT YEAR.(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Several tests that use a cellular telephone tied to a Visa International card account will be expanded to consumers next year in Japan and South Korea, Sue Gordon-Lathrop, vice president of emerging technologies, tells CardLine today. In South...

GE'S CARD EARNINGS RISE.(GE Consumer Finance reports third quarter financial results)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Profits from the card unit of General Electric Co.'s GE Consumer Finance subsidiary rose 80% in the third quarter to $266 million from $148 million a year earlier, Fairfield, CT-based GE reported today. A GE Consumer Finance spokesperson tells...

FIRST DATA RENEWS CONTRACT WITH FIRSTCARIBBEAN.(FirstCaribbean International Bank)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... First Data Corp. yesterday announced that it has renewed a merchant-processing agreement with FirstCaribbean International Bank, which is headquartered in Warrens, Barbados. The contract with FirstCaribbean, which has operations in 15 countries...

LYNK, MFA OIL SIGN LONG-TERM CONTRACT.(Lynk Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Lynk Systems Inc. recently announced that it has signed a long-term contract with MFA Oil Co., which is headquartered in Columbia, MO. Atlanta-based Lynk will provide end-to-end payment processing for credit, debit, prepaid and EBT cards. MFA...

AMEX COMPLETES ROSENBLUTH PURCHASE.(American Express Inc., Rosenbluth International Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... American Express Co. recently announced that it has completed its purchase of Rosenbluth International, a Philadelphia-based travel-management company with operations in 15 countries and 2002 global-travel volume of $3 billion. The combined...

MERCHANT LITIGATION GIVES WAY TO LOVEFEST.(merchants' lead attorney Lloyd Constantine addresses Food Marketing Institute conference)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Visa USA and MasterCard International have been cooperating with merchants since their settlements this spring of the merchant class-action lawsuit over offline debit card interchange rates, says Lloyd Constantine, the merchants' lead attorney....

MERCHANTS HAVE SAVED $854 MILLION IN INTERCHANGE FEES.(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Merchants have saved about $854 million in interchange fees since Aug. 1, Lloyd Constantine, the lead attorney in the merchant class-action lawsuit against Visa USA and MasterCard International, told attendees today at the Food Marketing...

FOTE REMAINS CONFIDENT THAT DOJ WILL OK CONCORD PURCHASE.(First Data Corp. Chairman and CEO Charles Fote)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... First Data Corp. Chairman and CEO, Charles Fote, remains confident the U.S. Department of Justice will approve the card processor's proposed purchase of Concord EFS Inc. and its Star network. Fote, in a teleconference with financial analysts...

FIRST DATA CUTS CARD-PROCESSING FEES FOR CONVENIENCE STORES.(in partnership with National Association of Convenience Stores)(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... First Data Corp. and the National Association of Convenience Stores announced last week a reduced card-processing fee program for convenience stores and petroleum marketers. Participating retailers will see reduced fees through the aggregation...

BANK OF AMERICA REPORTS 16% INCREASE IN CARD INCOME.(Brief Article)
October 17, 2003... Bank of America today reported third-quarter card income of $794 million, up 16% compared with $687 million for the same three-month period last year. The Charlotte, NC, bank also reported that managed outstandings for the third quarter were...