In the UK, Barclaycard and InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) have announced the launch of the Priority Club Rewards Visa credit card.   » Continue Reading

Barclaycard has announced plans to issue over one million contactless cards this year across the UK. Barclaycard began issuing contactless enabled cards in London in September 2007 with the launch of Barclaycard OnePulse, the 3-in-1 card featuring Oyster, credit and contactless payment functions.   » Continue Reading

In the UK, EAT, Commidea Ltd and Barclaycard Business have announced that EAT, a sandwich, soup and coffee shop, has become the first retailer in the UK to introduce a fully integrated contactless payment system. Using Commidea’s Ocius Chip & PIN solution with contactless technology, Eat will now be able to process both Visa (Paywave) and MasterCard (Paypass) contactless transactions for its customers using Barclaycard Business as their merchant acquirer.   » Continue Reading

Barclaycard Business has launched Prepaid Solutions, a product it says "will enable retailers to offer gift cards and other stored value solutions to their customers in a more cost effective and convenient way, with the ultimate aim of increased sales and enhanced customer loyalty. The nationwide launch today follows the completion of a successful three month pilot of a Gift Card with Autonomy, a ladies tailoring and special occasion clothes chain with 27 stores nationwide."   » Continue Reading

Ameriprise Financial has announced it will be issuing a suite of branded payment cards with MasterCard Worldwide. The suite includes the Ameriprise World Elite MasterCard, Ameriprise World MasterCard and Ameriprise MasterCard cards as well as the Ameriprise Bank Debit MasterCard.   » Continue Reading

Barclaycard Business in the UK has announced the launch of Barclaycard Business Sustain, a carbon-offset corporate charge card that will enable customers to offset carbon emissions associated with air travel.   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Barclays becomes major credit card player', Leslie A. Poppas writes for the Wilmington News Journal about Barclay's US credit card business. "While employment at other credit card issuers in the area has decreased, employment at Barclays has tripled since the London bank bought Juniper for $293 million in December 2004. This month, Barclays hired its 1,000th Delaware employee and now employs 1,012 people in the state..."

In an article titled 'New card is small change", Jill Papworth reports for The Guardian about Barclaycard's new OnePulse "touch and pay" card that also includes Oyster capability for paying on Transport for London's services. She writes "the all-in-one card will allow Londoners to buy newspapers and coffee, then jump on the tube without ever using cash."

In a longer article titled "The plastic replacement for your loose change", James Charles writes for The Times about the new contactless technology. He notes that "by the end of next year Apacs, the UK payments association, expects five million contactless cards to have been issued in the UK."

BJ's Wholesale Club has announced that it has partnered with Barclays to launch the BJ's Visa Card. The two companies say the "new credit card offers cardholders a faster, more consumer-friendly way to earn BJ's Bucks, and introduces a number of new, convenient card features that provide additional value to qualified BJ's Members." The card includes Visa's payWave contactless technology.   » Continue Reading

Barclays has announced that its U.S. credit card business has passed the $5 billion mark in credit card receivables, calling itself "the fastest growing major credit card issuer in the United States."   » Continue Reading

In the UK, Barclaycard has announced "the new look and name of its unique card which will combine Oyster, credit and contactless functionalities. The new three-in-one card will be called Barclaycard OnePulse and is on track to be launched across London this September. Barclaycard OnePulse will be the only UK credit card that combines the ease and convenience of Oyster with the security and flexibility of Barclaycard and new contactless technology."   » Continue Reading

To mark the 20th anniversary of the debit card in the UK this past weekend, APACS has published a report titled "20 Years of the Debit Card" (PDF) reflecting on its history. The report is subtitled "Charting the rise of our favourite way to pay." APACS predicts that by 2011 personal spending on debit cards in the UK will have overtaken cash.   » Continue Reading

Barclaycard in the UK is celebrating the upcoming 10th anniversary of its Connect Card, the UK's first debit card. According to Barclays, "June 3rd, 1987 was the day that Barclays revolutionised the nation’s spending habits by putting the UK’s first debit card, the Barclays Connect card, into the purses and wallets of people up and down the country. The new cards caught on immediately and just nine months after the launch Barclays issued its millionth card."   » Continue Reading

Miles Brignall reports for The Guardian that Barclaycard in the UK is considering imposing fees on cardholders who don't use their Barclaycards "enough". Lloyds TSB began a similar practice earlier this year.

Gemalto has announced that it is providing Barclays Bank with a tailor-made product supporting Barclays project to offer stronger authentication for online banking customers. According to the company, its solution "includes the authentication devices and a full service encompassing design of the readers, fulfillment and distribution to the Barclays customer. In addition, Gemalto produced a unique looking device, customised with the bank’s visual corporate identity. The contract calls for the delivery of over half a million units by the end of this year and includes options for additional deliveries into 2008." More information, including photos of the device, are available at the Barclays web site.   » Continue Reading

Tash Shifrin reports for Computerworld UK that "Barclays bank is sending out handheld chip and PIN card readers to more than half a million online banking customers in a bid to prevent fraud."

Dave Friedlos of Computing provides some background on the recently announced Oyster-enabled Barclaycard.

In a press release this morning, Cubic Corporation, one of the principal members of the TranSys consortium (the developers of Transport for London’s Oyster smart card transit fare collection system) has provided some additional information about the previously announced exclusive deal with Barclays Bank for the development of a new card that will host both Oyster and Barclaycard Visa on one piece of plastic.   » Continue Reading

Dave Birch writes about the recently announced Barclays dual-interface chip cards - containing both contact and contactless interfaces for communicating to acceptance devices. Dave will shortly be posting a podcast with Barclay's project head Richard Mould talking about this new program.

Transport for London (TfL) has announced that "passengers on public transport around London could soon be able to make quick, contact-free, cashless payments and travel around the Capital using one card." Barclaycard and Transys, the consortium behind the Oyster smartcard system, have agreed to a three year exclusive relationship to develop a new card that places Oyster and Barclaycard Visa on one piece of plastic. The new card will also include Visa's 'wave and pay' contactless payment technology for making purchases of less than £10.   » Continue Reading

First Data International has announced a strategic, long-term agreement with Barclaycard, the UK-based international cards and lending business. Under the terms of the agreement, First Data International will provide credit card and loans processing for Barclaycard's new partnership programmes in the UK on its VisionPLUS processing platform, as well as a full range of contact centre services and managed services to include plastics personalisation, applications processing, payment processing, statements, letters and PIN mailers. Barclaycard intends to migrate existing partnership programmes and other portfolios to the VisionPLUS platform over time.   » Continue Reading

Saying they want to reduce the hassles associated with other many credit card reward programs, Travelocity and Barclays Bank Delaware (formerly Juniper Bank) have launched the Travelocity Rewards MasterCard. Unlike traditional mileage programs that are restricted by limited seat availability, blackout dates and brand choice, the Travelocity Rewards MasterCard has no blackout dates or travel restrictions and can be redeemed online for travel on any airline, hotel, car rental company, or flight + hotel package available on Travelocity at any time.   » Continue Reading

Transversal has announced that Barclays is its first customer to deploy Transversal's Sales Engine on its main UK site. The company claims that Sales Engine is "the first online marketing solution able to serve up targeted content, advertising and sales promotions in response to naturally phrased questions asked by customers via an organisation's website."   » Continue Reading

Barclays Bank Delaware (formerly Juniper Bank) and Jo-Ann Stores have announced a new co-branded Platinum MasterCard that will be linked to the company's Preferred Customer program.   » Continue Reading

Tom Young reports for Computing from the UK that Barclays plans to issue new hand-held card readers to all of its online banking customers for use in authenticating their logon access to Barclays' online banking sites. According to the article, the readers will read the chips on Barclays debit cards and generate a unique one-time password that must then be used to successfully complete the logon. The devices are based upon standards developed by APACS.

Ian Pollock reports for the BBC on how 40 years ago "an old converted shoe and boot factory in Northampton was the site for a revolution in the nation's borrowing and spending habits 40 years ago. It was there that 30 new bank clerks, freshly recruited the month before, joined a team of ten or so managers from Barclays bank to launch the country's first ever credit card - the Barclaycard." David Smith writes for the London Times and takes another look at the last 40 years of credit cards in the UK.

Barclays has announced that its Barclaycard Flexi-Rate customers are repaying credit card balances more quickly – reducing the time taken to repay and the amount of interest they pay. Flexi-Rate charges a lower interest rate to those customers who pay off a higher proportion of their balance. Customers who pay more than 10% of their monthly balance are charged an interest rate of 9.9%, those who pay more than 5% are charged 12.9%. Customers who opt to pay less than 5% (minimum 2%) are charged 16.9%.   » Continue Reading

Barclays Bank and TRANSFIRST have announced a strategic partnership to provide U.S. merchants with processing solutions for worldwide payment transactions with TRANSFIRST becoming a registered International Service Organisation/Member Service Provider of Barclays Bank. These services will allow U.S. merchants to accept payment in Europe, in their international customers' currency of choice while receiving U.S. dollars for payment.   » Continue Reading

Barclays has announced it is launching a "new online anti-fraud initiative and becoming the first bank to offer free anti-virus software to its customers. Customers will also be offered an innovative text message service notifying them of new payees on their online account, helping to cut occurrences of fraud attacks."   » Continue Reading

The London Sunday Times reports that Barclays Bank has begun imposing a £1,000 limit on its online banking customers' ability to transfer funds to external accounts.   » Continue Reading

US Airways and Barclays have announced a new co-branded US Airways Dividend Miles World MasterCard.   » Continue Reading