Cardline articles from September 2004

Cardline archives from September 2004

KERRY WANTS MINIMUM-PAYMENT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION ON CREDIT CARD BILLS.
September 3, 2004... John Kerry, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, supports a proposal requiring credit card issuers to print minimum-payment disclosures on cardholders' monthly billing statements similar to the one the card industry and the Office of...

CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE SETTLES CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's largest Visa issuer, today announced that it had agreed to pay C$16.5 million (U.S. $12.6 million) to current and former cardholders to settle a foreign exchange fee class-action lawsuit....

CIBC'S CARD REVENUES GROW IN THIRD QUARTER.(Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Wednesday reported third-quarter revenues for its cards business of C$347 million (U.S. $265.2 million), up 11.6% from C$311 million ( U.S. $237.5 million) for the same three-month period last year....

CONSUMER BANKRUPTCIES RISE IN CANADA.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Consumer bankruptcies in Canada rose to 7,477 in June, up 3% from 7,256 a year earlier, according to BankruptcyCanada.com. Business bankruptcies fell 7.2% to 708 from 763 in June 2003. Year to date, consumer bankruptcies totaled 43,817, up 2.5%...

U.K. SMART CARDS COULD BOOST DEBIT VOLUME.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Financial institutions in the United Kingdom have issued nearly 50 million smart cards to 25 million cardholders, or 60% of the 42 million holders of credit and debit cards, according to the Association of Payment and Clearing Services, a...

OCC ISSUES WARNING.(First National Bank of Bedrock, Co.)(Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... The U.S. Comptroller of the Currency has issued a warning about a Web site that claims to be associated with an apparently fictitious Internet bank, First National Bank of Bedrock, CO. The site offers credit and debit cards as well as other...

SOUTH KOREA'S CARD ISSUANCE IS HIGH, BUT USAGE HAS DROPPED.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... South Korea is second to the United States in credit card issuance per person, but Koreans are using their cards less because of high consumer debt, according to statistics released earlier this week. The Bank of Korea, the country's central...

CARD BONDS' CREDIT QUALITY IMPROVES.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Credit quality on securities backed by card receivables continued to improve in June, with chargeoffs dropping 15 basis points from the year-earlier period to 6.45% of receivables, according to Fitch Ratings' credit card indexes, released...

FINANCIAL TRADE GROUPS TURN THUMBS DOWN TO KERRY PROPOSALS.
September 3, 2004... Financial industry trade groups are reacting negatively to a proposal by the campaign organization of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and his running mate John Edwards to restrict risk-based pricing in consumer lending. The proposal...

ASIA PAYMENT SYSTEMS PREPARES TO CREATE NATIONAL CREDIT BUREAU IN CHINA.(Asia Payment Systems Inc.)(Shanghai CRC Telecomunication Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Card processor Asia Payment Systems Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shanghai CRC Telecomunication Co. Ltd., which represents the telecom assets of China's Construction and Railroad ministries, to create a nationwide credit...

CHINA OKAYS ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES TO BOOST E-COMMERCE.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... China's Parliament voted Saturday to legalize electronic signatures to boost the country's online commerce industry, according to wire-service reports. The law gives electronic signatures the legal status of handwritten ones, and it allows the...

PAYMENTECH TO USE EFUNDS' SYSTEM.(Paymentech Inc.)(eFunds Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Transaction processor and ATM operator eFunds Corp. recently announced that Paymentech Inc., the Dallas-based merchant processor, will use eFunds' SCAN check-authorization and transaction-risk assessment service. Paymentech will make SCAN...

ORBITZ'S CFO JOINS APAC'S BOARD.(APAC Customer Services Inc. appoints John J. Park)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... John J. Park, chief financial officer of Orbitz Inc., the online travel company, has joined the board of directors of APAC Customer Services Inc., APAC announced last week. Deerfield, IL-based APAC is a provider of telemarketing and customer...

FIRST AMERICAN PAYMENT SYSTEMS' VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING DIES.(Colleen Lee)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
September 3, 2004... Colleen Lee, vice president of sales and marketing at First American Payment Systems, died suddenly Aug. 22, the company reported. Ms. Lee joined First American in September 2001 after previously working at National Processing Co., First Data...

CARD ASSOCIATIONS' PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORAI IS SET FOR SEPT. 27.(MasterCard International Inc.)(Visa U.S.A. Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... All nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will decide next month whether to hear Visa USA's and MasterCard International's petition for a writ of certiorari, challenging a Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision. The Second Circuit,...

CARE CONCEPTS COMPLETES IBILL PURCHASE.(Internet Billing Company Ltd.)(Care Concepts 1 Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Media and marketing services company Care Concepts 1 Inc. this afternoon reported that it has completed its purchase of merchant processor Media Billing LLC and Internet Billing Co., collectively known as iBill, from Penthouse International...

NATIONAL ASSET RECOVERY OPENS CALL CENTER IN PANAMA.(National Asset Recovery Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... National Asset Recovery Services Inc., a St. Louis-based collections firm, has opened its newest call center in Panama City, Panama, Scott Buffum, vice president of sales and marketing, tells CardLine today. "We took our first call Saturday and...

SIMON SAYS, "BUY MY GIFT CARDS," AND PEOPLE ARE OBEYING.(Simon Property Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Major mall developer Simon Property Group Inc. announced recently that its Visa Simon gift card garnered annual sales of $340 million since its launch early in 2003. The cards can be bought at Simon shopping centers and used at any mall shop...

MBNA UNVEILS NEW LOGO.(MBNA Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Credit card issuer MBNA Corp. yesterday revealed a new corporate logo to employees at its headquarters in Wilmington, DE, the Wilmington News Journal reported today. The logo eventually will replace MBNA's longstanding logo in use since the...

REPORT - CREDIT-UNION MEMBERS CARRYING CREDIT UNION-CREDIT CARDS DECLINES.(AssetExchange)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... AssetExchange, the credit card brokerage firm, has bad news and not-so-bad news for credit unions with credit card portfolios. The bad news is that the share of credit-union members who are walking around with credit-union issued credit cards...

FIFTH THIRD, THORNTONS INK DEAL.(Thorntons Inc.)(Fifth Third Bank)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Thorntons Inc., which operates 150 gas and convenience stores throughout the Midwest, recently announced that it had signed a three-year contract with Fifth Third Bank Processing Solutions. The agreement involves Fifth Third providing a...

VIVOTECH NAMES FORMER CATUITY EXECUTIVE HEAD OF SALES FOR WESTERN U.S.(Doug Kilgour appointed)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Transaction processor ViVOtech has named Doug Kilgour, former vice president of sales and marketing at Catuity Inc., the Detroit-based loyalty software company, to vice president of sales for the United States' Western Region. ViVOtech is based...

SHELL CUTS CARD FEES, AND READIES MARKETING CAMPAIGN.(Shell Oil Products Co.)
September 3, 2004... Shell Oil Products US (SOPUS) Tuesday said it will cut the credit card acceptance costs its retailers and wholesalers pay and launch a fourth-quarter promotion for its card program. Under the new pricing structure effective today, Shell is...

CONVENIENCE-STORE GROUP PRAISES SHELL.(National Association of Convenience Stores)(Shell Oil Products Co.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... The National Association of Convenience Stores, an Alexandria, VA-based trade group, today hailed Shell Oil Products US's move to cut Visa-MasterCard acceptance costs. "It is not inconceivable that this year we could see credit card fees...

U.S. BANK TO ISSUE CARDS FOR FINANCIALLY TROUBLED ATA.(ATA Airlines Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... U.S. Bancorp's U.S. Bank unit and ATA Airlines Inc., the financially troubled Indianapolis-based carrier, yesterday introduced ATA platinum and business Visa cards, ATA's first cobranded cards. Cardholders will receive 3,300 bonus points upon...

U.S. BANK'S MONEYGRAM INITIATIVE TARGETS HISPANICS.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... U.S. Bank is offering MoneyGram International Inc.'s money-transfer service in five cities at 185 branch locations, Stephanie Miller, U.S. Bank's vice president of emerging markets, tells CardLine today. The cities are Chicago, Los Angeles, San...

GE SIGNS CARD-PROCESSING AGREEMENT WITH FIRST DATA.(First Data Corp.)(GE Consumer Finance)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... First Data Corp. this afternoon announced that it will process more than nine million card accounts that GE Consumer Finance recently purchased from Dillard's Inc. and Target Corp. The card programs are scheduled to be converted in the next...

STOCK NAMED PRESIDENT OF MASTERCARD ADVISORS, REPLACING RETIRING MUNDT.(Keith Stock appointed)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... MasterCard Advisors, MasterCard International's consulting arm, today named Keith Stock president, succeeding Henry Mundt, who is retiring from MasterCard after 20 years. The 51-year-old Stock is joining MasterCard from Capgemini, formerly...

AMEX, COSTCO EXPAND CARD RELATIONSHIP.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... American Express Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp., which is based in Issaquah, WA, today announced that they have expanded their relationship by offering two cobranded cash-rebate credit cards. The cards are the TrueEarnings Card for consumers...

CARD-BACKED BONDS IN THE U.K. WERE STABLE IN THE SECOND QUARTER.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... The performance of securities backed by credit card receivables in the United Kingdom stabilized during the second quarter, according to FitchRatings U.K. credit quality indices. Chargeoffs fluctuated near first-quarter levels at about 4.4% of...

DISCOVER DROPS DISCOVER-NOVUS NETWORK NAME FOR DISCOVER NETWORK.(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Tuesday, the last day of August, also was the last day for the Discover-Novus Network. Discover Financial Services, issuer of the Discover card, replaced the name with Discover Network to provide brand consistency, and because Discover...

TRANSIT CHIP CARD SUPPLIER BUYS PARKING SYSTEMS COMPANY.(Traf-Park Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... San Diego-based Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. announced today that it had purchased Traf-Park Inc. of Quebec, Canada, a supplier of automated parking systems. Cubic, which supplies the chip cards and readers to transit agencies in Chicago,...

VISA REPORTS INCREASE IN COMMERCIAL CARD USE IN LATIN AMERICA.(Visa International)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... Visa International for Latin America and Caribbean Region today reported that withdrawals and purchases made with Visa commercial cards were $2 billion for the year ended June 30. This is a 34% increase from the year-earlier period. In a...

SHELL'S LATEST DISCOUNT-RATE CUT WAS SECOND OF THE YEAR.(Shell Oil Co.)
September 3, 2004... Shell Oil Products US's Sept. 1 discount-rate cut for its branded gas stations-convenience stores was its second of the year, according to the head of Shell's credit card program. Shell earlier had cut the Visa-MasterCard rate from 2.85% of the...

PSCU SCHEDULES SEMINARS TO HELP CREDIT UNIONS WITH CARD PROGRAMS.(PSCU Financial Services)
September 3, 2004... PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest credit-union service organization, will hold a series of one-day seminars beginning later this month to improve members' credit card programs, a PSCU spokesperson tells CardLine today. "The seminars...

FDIC SAYS FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF BEDROCK WAS NOT A SOLID INSTITUTION, IF IT EVER EXISTED.(First National Bank of Bedrock Co.)(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(Brief Article)
September 3, 2004... The Federal Deposit Insurance did not insure the First National Bank of Bedrock, CO, an apparently fictitious Internet bank, an FDIC spokesperson says. The FDIC Wednesday issued an alert that the bank was falsely representing to potential...

HURRICANE FRANCES FORCES VISA AND MASTERCARD TO CLOSE THEIR MIAMI OFFICES.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Hurricane Frances forced MasterCard International and Visa International to close their Miami offices, spokespersons for both card associations tell CardLine today. MasterCard's Latin America and Caribbean Region office closed Thursday and will...

WHITE HOUSE CALLS FOR IDENTIFICATION STANDARDS.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... An order signed by President Bush may have far-reaching implications for smart cards and the way the United States does business. Last week, Bush signed the Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which calls for a common identification...

SOME NETWORKS LOWER THEIR POS VOLUME.(point-of-sale)
September 10, 2004... The number of purchases initiated with PIN-based debit cards is not as high as some of the leading electronic funds transfer networks have led the market to believe, ATM&Debit News reports in Sept. 2 issue, a preview for the Sept. 16 release of...

ATM MONTHLY TRANSACTION VOLUME IS FLAT.(automated teller machines)
September 10, 2004... ATM monthly transaction volume grew at a very flat 1.9%, to 919.2 million as of March 2004 from 902.3 million in March 2003, according to CardLine's sister publication, ATM&Debit News' 2005 edition of its annual EFT Data Book. The growth was...

CARDHOLDERS PROVIDE MIXED SIGNALS ON LOYALTY PROGRAMS.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Consumers gave mixed signals in a poll by Maritz Inc., a market research and loyalty program provider. A March survey by Maritz Research found that 66% of consumers say they participate in loyalty programs to earn discounts, but the Maritz...

SURVEY THE OF CREDIT CARDHOLDERS IN CHINA IS VERY LOW.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... A recent survey conducted in seven major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, found that only 6.1% of the people polled have a credit card, according to the Web site Asian Banker Interactive. It also found that of these...

APPOINTMENTS.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Payment terminal manufacturer Verifone Inc. today named Kevin Barry vice president of global supply chain management. Before joining the Santa Clara, CA-based company, Barry was employed by Solectron, an electronic manufacturing-services...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
September 10, 2004... Discover Financial Services, issuer of the Discover card, changed the name of the Discover-Novus Network to the Discover Network to provide brand consistency and to leverage Discover's name ovus became part of the Discover-Novus Network in...

CO-OP OFFERS REWARDS FOR TRIPLE DES UPGRADES.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... CO-OP Network, the EFT network owned by credit unions, is offering members $400 for each ATM they upgrade to meet the Triple DES antifraud standards for protecting personal identification numbers. "We wanted to encourage early compliance,"...

DISCOVER NAMES NEW MARKETING CHIEF.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Discover card parent Discover Financial Services announced today that Margaret H. Georgiadis became chief marketing officer and executive vice president Aug. 31. Georgiadis replaces Ashoke Dutt, who left Discover at the end of March to pursue...

ATM VOLUME AS PERCENT PIN-DEBIT VOLUME DECLINES.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Electronic funds transfer network ATM volume as a percent of all PIN-debit transaction volume is declining among major networks, which makes competition for point-of-sale transactions all the more intense, data from CardLine sister publication...

CITI TO LAUNCH NEW TRAVEL-REWARDS CARD.
September 10, 2004... Citigroup Inc., the world's largest credit card issuer, next week will launch a new MasterCard dubbed the "Citi PremierPass Card." The card will offer travel-related rewards, according to a spokesperson who did not have further details today....

TNB CARD SERVICES HIRES TWO, PROMOTES FOUR.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... TNB Card Services, the Dallas-based card processor and agent issuer owned by credit unions, today announced that it hired a senior vice president, a vice president and promoted four executives. TNB hired Clifton B. Miller as senior vice...

FIRST NATIONAL MERCHANT SERVICES, VESTA RENEW AGREEMENT.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... First National Merchant Solutions, the Omaha, NE-based acquirer, today announced that it has signed a new three-year agreement with Vesta Corp. Under the new agreement, First National Merchant Solutions expects to process transactions totaling...

AMERICAN EXPRESS IS IN AND DINERS CLUB IS OUT WITH TRAVEL MANAGER NAVIGANT.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Navigant International Inc., a Denver-based company that's the second-largest provider of corporate travel-management services in the United States, has signed a seven-year agreement with American Express Co. to recommend AmEx's corporate cards...

REVOLVING CREDIT HAS A GROWTH SPURT.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... After contracting in the second quarter, consumer revolving credit grew at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 9% in July, the Federal Reserve reported this afternoon. The Fed's preliminary figures put revolving credit outstandings at...

PAYSTAR SIGNS LETTER OF INTENT TO SELL GLOBALCASH.(to ICM Telecommunications )(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... PayStar Corp. today announced that it signed a letter of intent to sell GlobalCash Inc. to ICM Telecommunications Inc. Douglas Hamby, chairman and CEO of ICM, says the deal will help the company's sales. "It increases our distribution. It's...

JCB ANNOUNCES DEAL TO INCREASE CARD ACCEPTANCE IN SPAIN.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... JCB International Co. Ltd., the international arm of Japan's largest card issuer, took another major step today to increase card acceptance in Spain, a popular vacation destination for JCB card carrying Japanese tourists. JCB signed a licensing...

EFUNDS ENHANCES AGREEMENT WITH BISYS GROUP.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Processor eFunds Corp. announced today it would begin providing ACH processing to Bisys Group Inc. The deal represents an expansion of eFunds' alliance with the New York City-based outsourcing company that serves 22,000 financial services firms...

REPORT HSBC AND CHINESE BANK FORM CARD-ISSUING JOINT VENTURE.
September 10, 2004... China's Bank of Communications and HSBC Holdings PLC today announced that they have formed a joint venture to issue cobranded credit and debit cards beginning in October, according to press reports out of Shanghai. An HSBC spokesperson in the...

MASTERCARD REPORTS SECOND-QUARTER GROWTH FOR MAESTRO CARD.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... MasterCard International said today the number of cards with Maestro brand mark increased in the second quarter compared with the same three-month period last year. The Purchase, NY-based card association says Maestro's brand appeared on 545...

FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL AGREES TO BUY INTERCEPT FOR $408 MILLION.
September 10, 2004... Fidelity National Financial Inc. today agreed to buy InterCept Inc. for $408.2 million, possibly ending the Georgia company's soap opera. Fidelity will pay InterCept $18.90 per share for the company's 21.6 million shares, which InterCept's...

BANK OF THE WEST GOES EAST, MOVING DEBIT CARDS TO MASTERCARD.(MasterCard International Inc.)
September 10, 2004... In a boost to MasterCard International's debit card business, San Francisco-based Bank of the West today announced that it would convert its Visa check card portfolio to debit MasterCard. The bank has about 450,000 debit cardholders and 355 ATM...

SOME NETWORKS ARE BENEFITING FROM DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN PIN-BASED PURCHASES.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... While PIN-based point-of-sale transaction volume continues eclipsing ATM volume in the largest electronic funds transfer networks, some networks are benefiting more than others from the continued double-digit growth in PIN-based purchases,...

FIRST DATA EXTENDS CARD-PROCESSING CONTRACT WITH U.K. ISSUER.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... First Data Corp. has extended its card-processing contract with the Nationwide Building Society, issuer of the Comic Relief credit card, which supports a popular charity in the United Kingdom. First Data signed an additional three-year...

JCB, FIRST DATA SIGN ACQUIRING DEAL.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... JCB International Co. Ltd., which is trying to expand globally, has signed a product-development agreement with First Data Corp., the two companies announced yesterday. According to the contract, First Data will enhance its VisionPlus card...

JCB INVOLVED IN A SMART CARD FOR WOMEN IN TAIWAN.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... JCB Co. Ltd., Japan's largest card issuer, has formed a partnership with a Taiwanese bank and a Japanese apparel company to issue a smart card for women in Taiwan . Sun Bank will issue the Wacoal-I Card for Taiwan Wacoal Corp. The product will...

WASHINGTON STATE BANK PUTS ITS FAITH IN TRUSTCOMMERCE.(Brief Article)
September 10, 2004... Columbia Bank has hired TrustCommerce as its third-party processor for Internet-based transactions from Columbia's merchant customers. The agreement, which was announced recently, did not disclose the deal's financial terms. Columbia Bank is a...

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? IF YOU ARE, VISA HAS THE TICKETS.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Visa USA officially began yesterday a sweepstakes tied to the National Football League with a grand prize of tickets for two to Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, FL, in February. The prize also includes travel expenses, accommodations, pre-game...

U.K. CARD GROUP PRESENTS REPORT ABOUT ITS INITIATIVES AHEAD OF HEARINGS.
September 17, 2004... The Association for Payment Clearing Services, a trade organization that represents the United Kingdom's biggest issuers, has released a report updating Members of Parliament about the voluntary changes credit card issuers have made in the last...

INNOBETA BRINGS 3,000 ATMS INTO FISERV NETWORK.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Innobeta Systems Inc., a South Hackensack, NJ-based transaction processor and terminal driver, this week said in a news release that it is adding 3,000 ATMs it runs to Fiserv Inc.'s Accel-Exchange electronic funds transfer network. Innobeta...

ELAN BUYS FLORIDA BANK'S CARD PORTFOLIO.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Elan Financial Services purchased Coast Bank of Florida's card portfolio in a deal brokered by Brookwood Capital of Peterborough, NH, Brookwood announced today. Coast Bank, which is based in Bradenton, FL, had card receivables of $1.1 million...

CAPITAL ONE'S CREDIT QUALITY IMPROVES.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Capital One Financial Corp. today reported that its annualized net chargeoff rate was 3.87% of managed receivables in August, down from 5.34% in August 2003. The 30-day-plus delinquency rate was 3.80% of managed receivables in August compared...

DROPPED DINERS CLUB HOPES TO PURSUE FUTURE DEALS WITH NAVIGANT.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Although travel manager Navigant International Inc. has dropped Diners Club North America in favor of American Express Co. , Chicago-based Diners Club said it hopes to explore business opportunities with Navigant in the future. "Diners Club and...

ECOUNT NAMES HALF.COM COFOUNDER CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Ecount, the Conshohocken, PA-based payments company, has named Mark Harrington senior vice president of marketing. Prior to joining Ecount, Harrington co-founded Half.com Inc., an online store that sells books, electronic equipment and other...

ISSUER SAYS USAIRWAYS CARD TO CONTINUE DESPITE CARRIER'S BANKRUPTCY.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Bank of America Corp., issuer of the US Airways Dividend Miles cobranded Visa credit and check cards, says the card program is unaffected by the airline's weekend bankruptcy filing. So far, at least. "As long as US Airways continues to have the...

GE PLANS TO HAVE CARD-ISSUING PARTNERSHIP WITH CHINESE BANK WITHIN A YEAR.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... GE Consumer Finance is evaluating China's market and plans to partner with a Chinese bank to issue credit cards there within a year, a spokesperson tells CardLine today. "We have been saying for a number of years that we find China's market...

SOLICITATION VOLUME SETS RECORD IN JUNE.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Credit card issuers mailed 491.8 million solicitations in June, a record for a single month, Chicago-based Synovate's Mail Monitor tracking service reports. The previous record was 485.1 million in November 2001. June's volume was up 44% from...

AUSTRALIA'S CENTRAL BANK WILL CHANGE INTERCHANGE RATE FOR VISA'S DEBIT CARDS.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... The Reserve Bank of Australia says it will intervene into Visa debit card's wholesale interchange rate-price structure, a move some say threatens the card's existence. The country's central bank said it decided to involve itself in Visa's debit...

MAGEX BUYS OPEN PAYMENT TECHNOLOGIES.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Magex Ltd., the London-based provider of person-to-person and consumer-to-merchant Internet and mobile-payment services, today announced that it purchased Open Payment Technologies Inc. for an undisclosed price. Open Payment Technologies, an...

TNB CARD SERVICES BUYS FOUR CREDIT UNIONS' CARD PORTFOLIOS.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... TNB Card Services today announced that it purchased four credit union card portfolios and signed agency agreements with all the sellers. The credit unions are - Nu Credit Union in Joliet, IL; Kansas City Credit Union, Kansas City, MO; Jefferson...

LAURUS MASTER FUND LTD PUTS $3 MILLION MORE INTO PIPELINE DATA'S PIPELINE.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Transaction processor Pipeline Data Inc. today announced that it received an additional $3 million in financing from Laurus Master Trust Fund Ltd. Pipeline CEO MacAllister Smith said the Braintree, MA, company will use the money to grow its...

VISA SMART CARD APPLICATION RUNS ON RIVAL'S SOFTWARE.(Visa International, MasterCard International)
September 17, 2004... For the first time, Visa International has certified its standardized smart card debit and credit applications to run on Multos software, which is backed by its rival MasterCard International. Technology vendors more than 18 months ago...

AMEX IS UNDERWRITING A STUDY OF THE CREDIT-CARD COUNSELING INDUSTRY.(American Express Co.)
September 17, 2004... American Express Co. is underwriting a multi-year grant program studying the credit counseling industry, paying $15,000 to $40,000 each to eight to 15 participating counseling agencies in the first year, CardLine has learned. The program is...

AMEX OFFERS UPGRADES TO ITS EXECUTIVE BUSINESS CARD.(American Express Co.)(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... American Express Co. said that it's upgrading the cardholder benefits on its Executive Business Card, which is designed for business owners who are frequent travelers. The upgrades include - a complimentary companion ticket, exclusive benefits...

REWARDS NETWORK LANDS ANOTHER BIG CANADIAN BUSINESS.(contract with RBC Royal Bank)(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... Rewards Network Inc., the credit card based loyalty program provider, has made a second major incursion into the Canadian market. The Chicago-based company has signed a multi-year agreement with RBC Royal Bank, Canada's largest, to provide its...

IF IT TAKES TOO LONG TO ACCUMULATE LOYALTY POINTS, INDIVIDUALS BECOME DISLOYAL.(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... A survey commissioned by Maritz Loyalty Marketing today reported that an overwhelming percentage of customers leave loyalty rewards programs because they grow tired of waiting for the points to accumulate. According to Maritz, 70% of those...

APACS SELECTS NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE.(Association For Payment Clearing Services appointed Paul Smee)(Brief Article)
September 17, 2004... The Association For Payment Clearing Services, a trade association for the United Kingdom's credit card issuers, Wednesday named Paul Smee its new chief executive. Smee replaces Chris Pearson, who left the job in August after eight years. Mark...