JCB has announced the appointment of Mr. Koremitsu Sannomiya as President and Chief Operating Officer at its annual shareholders' meeting in Tokyo. Mr. Sannomiya succeeds Mr. Kenji Seto, who has served in the position since June 2007. Mr. Sannomiya will report to Mr. Tamio Takakura, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. READ MORE »

EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., has announced American Express as its fourth owner-member. According to the organization, "the addition of this latest international payment organisation aligns with EMVCo’s intent to attract further industry participation in the development of the EMV Specifications." READ MORE »

EMVCo, the EMV standards body owned by JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., has announced plans to "broaden industry participation in the development work of the organisation and establish a regular, formal dialogue between EMVCo and the global payments industry, through the launch of a new website subscription programme and annual user meeting." READ MORE »

JCB and CASSIS International have announced an agreement to collaborate in a test of NFC over-the-air (OTA) services. The two companies will jointly demonstrate end-to-end secure contactless payment issuance services for NFC mobile phones.

JCB has announced the launch of the Breeze Center JCB Card with the J/Speedycontactless payment program in alliance with Union Bank of Taiwan (Union Bank). According to JCB, "this will be the first card with J/Speedy in the world. J/Speedy allows customers to pay quickly and easily by simply tapping the card - no signature is required."

JCB has announced the appointment of Tamio Takakura as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately. Mr. Takakura succeeds Hiroya Nobuhara who had served as JCB's President and CEO for the past 4 years.

JCB, a global payment brand and credit card issuer and acquirer in Japan, has announced the a brand slogan "Good times start here.", as part of a new global branding strategy.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced it has assigned the PayPass ISO/IEC 14443 Implementation Specification v1.1 to EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International - saying the move "signals significant progress towards a common platform for contactless EMV payment transactions."

JCB has announced the signing of an agreement with China Merchants Bank (CMB), one of the major commercial banks in the region, for issuing JCB brand cards in China. CMB began offering international branded JCB CMB Hello Kitty Fan's Credit Card on March 1, with designs featuring 'Hello Kitty' and 'Dear Daniel' licensed by Sanrio (Shanghai) Int'l Trade Co., Ltd. READ MORE »

Visa and JCB have announced an agreement to share Visa Asia Pacific's contactless specification, which JCB says will soon open up the acceptance of JCB's contactless cards, J/Speedy, at merchant locations outside of Japan. With this arrangement, merchants can use the same terminal to accept contactless payments for both brands.

JCB is holding its 10th JCB World Conference from November 13th to 15th in Honolulu with a theme of 'Working
Together to Shape the Future of Payments'.

JCB, in cooperation with CCV Holland B.V., Gemalto, KPN, Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, PaySquare, and ViVOtech, has announced that the launch of Mobile J/Speedy, a Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payment pilot project in Amsterdam. Following initial trials in September, the pilot service is now being rolled out to a broader group of JCB's customers. The project marks Europe's first contactless international credit payment scheme using a mobile phone with an NFC chip.

American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International have announced the formation of an independent council - the PCI Security Standards Council - designed to manage the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard.

Discover Financial Services and JCB have announced a strategic relationship "that will lead to increased card acceptance for both companies." The arrangement provides for acceptance of JCB cards on the Discover Network in the U.S., and of Discover Network cards on the JCB network in Japan, and acceptance of PULSE cards at targeted ATMs in Japan at the option of the card issuer.

The Merchant Account Blog from MerchantEquip.com reports on a joint news release that was issued just a few days ago from Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club, JCB and Discover outlining what businesses need to do to secure cardholder data.

JCB has announced it s working together with "seven world-class players in payment systems, terminals, NFC and mobile technology" to launch a pilot project using an NFC contactless credit payment scheme this autumn in Amsterdam.

JCB and MasterCard International have reached an agreement to share the MasterCard PayPass ISO/IEC 14443 Implementation Specification, which provides for a global standardized technology for contactless payment services.

JCB has announced that Transcard AD, Bulgaria's largest credit card issuer and acquirer, will roll out the JCB branded TRANSCARD JCB card in March. This will mark the first time for a JCB card compliant with EMV to be issued in Europe, and will bring the number of countries in which JCB cards are issued to 20.

JCB has announced that its international subsidiary, JCB International (JCBI), signed an ATM gateway agreement with China UnionPay (CUP) on 16 December. This will enable CUP cardholders to have access to ATM networks in Japan through a gateway platform provided by JCBI.

JCB has announced that more than 500,000 JCB LINDA women-oriented cards have been issued since the card's launch in 2002. JCB is celebrating its success with the new JCB LINDA Sweet card featuring a refreshing citrus-based fragrance, a limited edition of 20,000 cards.

Earlier, we covered news from Japan about Japanese credit card companies forming a 'mobile wallet' alliance. This morning comes the definitive press release on the new Mobile Payment Promotion Council established with the mission of promoting standardized mobile contactless payment systems in Japan.

Asian Banker reports on JCB's plans for cards in China.

JCB has announced it has acquired a one-third ownership in EMVCo, LLC, joining MasterCard International and Visa International with each having equal interests in the organization.