Chase and British Airways have announced that EMV chip-with-signature technology is now available on the British Airways Visa Card.

“The addition of EMV chip-with-signature to the British Airways Visa Card offers cardmembers a higher level of convenience,” said Naney Pandit, general manager, Chase Card Services. “Since most of our cardmembers frequently travel abroad, we want to provide them with benefits that make them feel right at home, no matter where they are. Cardmembers can now use the British Airways Card at any chip-enabled, point-of-sale device, such as train ticket kiosk, restaurant or gas station.”

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Delta Air Lines and MasterCard recently announced an exclusive brand partnership to offer customers and businesses co-branded Delta SkyMiles Debit MasterCard cards. The two companies will work together to build a national network of banks to offer the debit cards to Delta customers through local bank branches across the United States. The goal of the program is to make the card easily accessible in every state where there is a high number of SkyMiles members.

U.S. Bank and The Kroger Co. have announced a new strategic alliance that will give Kroger customers a suite of payment products. According to the two companies, "U.S. Bank has purchased Kroger’s existing credit card portfolio from RBS Citizens N.A., and plans to offer additional financial services for Kroger customers. Kroger is a large, well-known brand with strong customer loyalty, which creates an ideal platform to introduce innovative payments products and financial services." READ MORE »

Barclaycard US has announced an exclusive multi-year agreement with the National Football League to market credit cards bearing the NFL shield logo and the logos of each of the 32 NFL clubs.Fans may obtain these credit cards from Barclaycard starting in September via the web, at stadium displays, through in-bound telephone applications and via email and direct mail invitations." READ MORE »

The Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG) has launched a “health checkup” service for retailers to help them evaluate co-branded card programme performance and identify options for improvement. According to ACG, it builds on a service that has been utilised by the vast majority of card issuers in the recent years. READ MORE »

Delta Air Lines and American Express have announced a multiyear extension of their exclusive Co-brand Credit Card partnerships. As part of the partnership agreement, Delta will receive an immediate $1 billion boost to its liquidity from a purchase of SkyMiles. Delta said it expects to receive an additional $1 billion from contract improvements through 2010.

U.S. Bank and Anheuser-Busch have announced they are partnering to offer the Budweiser Rewards Visa Platinum Card that will enable cardmembers to earn points toward gift cards good for Anheuser-Busch merchandise.

Revolution Money and Shipley Energy have announced that Shipley has become the first energy company to offer a co-branded RevolutionCard. Shipley plans to "periodically boast valuable incentives for consumers when they use their RevolutionCard for qualifying Shipley Energy purchases."