Issuing/Originating

Strong consumer spending and a benign world economy worked in Mastercard Inc.’s favor in the first quarter, lifting the network’s U.S. purchase volume by nearly 11% and profits by over 30%. The No. 2 payment card network by volume on Wednesday reported that U.S. purchase volume rose 11% to $359 …

Boosted by the rapid rise of chip card payments in Asia and the United States, more than half of general-purpose credit and debit cards worldwide now have an EMV chip, EMVCo reported Thursday. Plus, nearly two-thirds of card-present transactions now involve an EMV card being read by a point-of-sale terminal that …

Mastercard Inc. says it is preparing for a better online payments experience by backing the EMVCo secure remote commerce specification. Visa Inc., too, says it supports the spec. The specification, announced in November, establishes the technical framework for enabling consumers to use their payment cards across channels more easily than …

Boosted by higher cardholder spending, American Express Co.’s discount revenue grew 9% in the first quarter despite a year-over-year decline in its average worldwide discount rate. AmEx reported late Wednesday that discount revenue hit $5.89 billion compared with $5.39 billion a year earlier. Discount revenue is by far AmEx’s largest …

Payments executives may abhor fraudsters, but they have to admit the scamsters and hackers are a determined lot. The percentage of organizations sustaining actual or attempted payments fraud increased in 2017 for the fourth straight year, reaching a record high 78%, according to the latest “Payments Fraud And Control Survey” …

Payment card networks and merchant acquirers still don’t have a solid read about how many merchants will take advantage of the networks’ new signature-optional policies that take effect this month. A merchant trade group, however, expects more than half of its members will cease requiring cardholder signatures at the point …

With about 18 months of experience with contactless debit cards under its belt, TCF Financial Corp. says it’s all-in for so-called dual-interface cards and mobile payments as the number of U.S. merchant locations accepting contactless payments continues to grow. The Wayzata, Minn.-based company’s TCF Bank began supporting the major mobile …

Visa Inc. is altering its chargeback-resolution program to condense the reason codes into four categories, amend the time to resolve a disputed transaction, and make other changes. According to data on a Chase Paymentech site, the changes are set to go into effect April 15 because the card brand wants to …

The Electronic Transactions Association announced its inaugural group of “Forty Under 40” up-and-coming payments-industry leaders. Cubic Corp. said its Cubic Transportation Systems unit and John Laing, a builder of mass-transit infrastructure, came to terms with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to build and operate a new fare-payment system, including contactless bank card payments through …

China-based UnionPay International has created a mobile-payments platform the big payment network hopes will further expand adoption of its payment services beyond its home country. The platform, dubbed UnionPay International Mobile Payment Service (UMPS), enables banks, merchants, mobile-phone manufacturers, and other third parties to access UnionPay mobile services through open …