Card Technology reports on the Japanese Edy contactless electronic purse and bitWallet, the operator of the scheme.

According to published reports, however, overall monthly Edy transactions topped 10 million for the first time in June.

Earlier this year, a bitWallet source told Card Technology that average transaction amounts for Mobile Edy were running 20% higher than the roughly 400 yen ($3.80) consumers spent with Edy cards. The operator believes the higher transaction amounts may be because consumers can view their purse balances on their handset screens and can top up the account over the mobile network.

About 20,000 merchants in Japan accept Edy cards and Mobile Edy. BitWallet recently enabled users to transfer Edy value from person to person.

In yet another example of integrating electronic purse functionality for transit into mobile phones, Card Technology reports on initiatives in Korea to enable subscribers of the three major mobile carriers to be able to use their mobile phones for transit payments.

With it, subscribers of mobile carriers SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom will be able to read on their handset screens how much value they have left in their electronic transit purse and to reload the purse over the mobile network. They will not only be able to pay for train and bus fares with a tap of their handsets on gate readers, but also make some retail purchases.

Card Technology reports on NTT DoCoMo's efforts with East Japan Railway to develop a common contactless infrastructure for payments.

Separately, NTT DoCoMo is exploring ways to expand the retailer infrastructure capable of accepting the contactless e-cash loaded on to its mobile phones.

Heartland Payment Systems has announced the initial public offering of its common stock at a price of $18.00 per share. Heartland's common stock has been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HPY". The company's final prospectus for this offering is available from the SEC's Edgar site.

Yahoo! and Alibaba.com have announced a definitive agreement to form a long-term strategic partnership in China. Yahoo! will contribute its Yahoo! China business to Alibaba.com and the two companies will work together in an exclusive partnership to grow the Yahoo! brand in China. Yahoo! is investing $1 billion in cash to purchase Alibaba.com shares from the company and other shareholders giving it a 40 percent economic interest with 35 percent voting rights in Alibaba.com.   » Continue Reading

Rebecca Buckman reports for the Wall St. Journal on the slew of companies popping up in China to gain a foothold in online payments.

Enter companies such as PayPal, 99Bill and AliPay. PayPal hopes its global brand and experience will win it customers, particularly when it extends its services to Chinese online-auction site EachNet in September. EachNet is wholly owned by eBay. PayPal also is offering "buyer protection" against fraud for transactions on those sites.

Homegrown Chinese payment services think they have an edge over foreign companies because they understand the nuances of how local people like to use the Web, says Oliver Kwan, chief executive of 99Bill, which he founded last year and which has about 80 employees.

Péralte C. Paul reports for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Visa USA announced Wednesday it will stand by its original decision that CardSystems Solutions no longer will be allowed to process payments on Visa-branded credit and debit cards after Oct. 31.

After the breach was revealed, Visa gave its member banks who use CardSystems until Oct. 31 to find another processor. But Visa agreed to hold further talks with CardSystems at the request of U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), because 90 of the Atlanta company's 115 employees work at a Tucson processing center. The remaining 25 are at CardSystem's Atlanta headquarters. Those talks did not dissuade the credit card giant from its earlier stance, a Visa spokesman said.

"Everyone in this business has got to understand that their security represents a real reputational risk, not only for them, but for the long-term health and well-being of the entire industry," said Phil W. Tomlinson, TSYS' chief executive officer. "We can't allow these breaches to continue," he said. "If not, the regulators will do it for all of us, and it will not eliminate the sloppy or rogue players."

Ted Griffith reports for the Wilmington (DE) News Journal on Juniper Bank's $455 million deal to become the credit card issuer for US Airways following its upcoming merger with America West. Juniper is displacing Bank of America as US Airway's credit card issuing partner.

According to the regulatory filing, there will be a two-year transition period in which both Bank of America and Juniper will be able to issue cards under the US Airways brand. After two years, Juniper gets exclusive rights.

Jane Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal on how major credit card issuers are now charging maximum penalty rates of over 30 percent.

The higher penalty rates could have a big impact on cardholders later this year when many issuers are expected to boost monthly minimum payments in response to guidelines issued by federal bank regulators, adds Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. The guidelines call for minimum payments that are high enough to cover finance charges and fees during the billing cycle while chipping away at some of the consumer's original debt, or principal.

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