Issuing/Originating

Losses caused by massive fraud could bring down as many as 10 financial institutions within the next three years, predict analysts at Treasury Strategies Inc., a Chicago-based consultancy specializing in financial services. Since bank failures are usually caused by economic downturns or mismanagement, the prediction comes as a startling reminder …

There's some evolution going on at Revolution Money Inc., the low-cost PIN-based credit card and electronic-payments venture. In announcing on Tuesday that Fifth Third Bancorp would be a RevolutionCard issuer, Revolution Money revealed a new focus on building its cardholder base and disclosed another $20 million venture-capital investment on top …

Making good on a promise last spring that new developments were in the works, specialty debit processor Tempo Payments Inc. on Monday unveiled a new software-as-a-service platform and three MasterCard-branded decoupled debit card programs. Issued by First Bank & Trust, the cards are the first Tempo-affiliated cards issued by a …

Having lost one brawl with Congress this year over credit cards, big banks apparently are in no mood to fight about another increasingly political issue, overdraft fees. Leading debit card issuers Bank of America Corp. on Tuesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday announced major changes to their overdraft-fee …

The increasing popularity of reloadable prepaid cards, particularly among the unbanked and underbanked, has begun to raise alarms among consumer advocates who view the cards as subject to capricious pricing and lacking important protections offered on bank cards. And, as larger merchant and other enterprises become active in issuing these …

Profits and overall transaction volumes are still growing for Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., but the bank card networks' latest quarterly numbers show just how severe the cutback by recession-racked credit card issuers is becoming. In fact, there are about 104 million fewer credit cards circulating in the U.S. today …

As the economy continues to sputter, U.S. card-billed business at American Express Co. fell 15% to $104.8 billion in the second quarter, from $123.5 billion a year earlier, according to results the travel-and-entertainment giant reported on Thursday. Average U.S. cardholder spending during the quarter on so-called basic card issued directly …

In anticipation of rising demand for contactless form factors other than credit and debit cards, Dynamic Card Solutions LLC this week introduced a product that allows bank branches to personalize key fobs, contactless stickers, and NFC-equipped cell phones on the spot. The product, called Perso-to-Go, complements an existing system the …

With near-field communication (NFC) technology seemingly on hold in North America, mobile-payments backers are turning to radio-frequency identification tags with adhesive backing that can be affixed to phones (Digital Transactions News, Oct. 15, 2008). These so-called stickers, offered by First Data Corp., Oberthur Technologies, and other companies, are widely seen …

Many banks are reflexively reissuing debit cards in the wake of a breach, possibly stopping fraud losses but sustaining huge reissuance costs and eroding customers' trust. That's according to survey research released this week. “[Breaches] occur all the time, and don't show any signs of going away,” says Paul Henninger, …