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FEATURED ARTICLES
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Discover Buys Diners Club |
Discover Financial Services has agreed to buy Diners Club International from Citigroup Inc. for $165 million,according to a news report from Bloomburg.
The financial wire service says Discover will acquire the Diners Club International network, which has more than $30 billion a year in spending volume outside of North America.
In an official announcement, Discover said the acquisition will allow Discover customers to use their cards at merchants that accept Diners Club cards around the world.
"This is certainly an incremental positive" for Discover, said Craig Maurer, an analyst at Calyon Securities in New York. The Diner's Club International purchase "doesn't add credit risk," Maurer said. |
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Senate Panel Unveils IRS Reporting Discussion Draft |
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee staff today released what it called a bipartisan discussion draft of the White House proposal to require information reporting by banks and other entities on reimbursements to merchants that accept electronic forms of payment, including credit and debit cards.
The Finance Committee intends to use public comment to understand more about how payment reporting may affect the tax gap – the $345 billion in Federal taxes legally owed but uncollected each year – as well as to determine whether increased reporting requirements would unfairly burden merchant businesses or banks. |
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Visa Inc. unveiled its long awaited IPO Tuesday and when trading opened today (Wednesday), shares quickly rose to more than $65 before settling back to the $60 range by midday.
The public offering went off at $44, raising nealry $18 billion for Visa -- the largest IPO is US history. The stock now trades on the NYSE under the symbol "V".
While the immediate direct impact on the merchant acquiring industry is small, the influx of cash will help some issuing banks who are troubled by the current mortgage and debt crisis and may have a longer term effect on Visa's exposure to litigation over interchage and antitrust issues. |
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Iowa May Ban Gift Card Fees |
An
Iowa Senate proposal would ban some widespread practices involving slosed loop prepaid cards, banning expiration dates and fees on unused balances, among other things. The measure was recommended Wednesday by the Senate
Commerce Committee in a 9-3 vote.
Opponents of the bill say it clashes with current law and creates an unfair burden for businesses but the measure has widespread consumer support.
It includes an exception for gift cards that are given away as
charitable prizes or as part of a promotion. Those cards would still be
allowed to have expiration dates or other conditions that would reduce
the face value.
One of the more complicated parts of the measure
is how it works with current law. Right now, if a gift card is
purchased in Iowa and not redeemed for three years, businesses are
required to declare the cash value as unclaimed property and transfer
it to the Iowa Treasurer’s Office. The cards add up to about $500,000
per year.
Opponents of the bill say retailers would be in a bind
if a customer tries to redeem a gift card after three years. Supporters
say this is unlikely to happen very often, but if it does, retailers
would be able to get the money back from the Treasurer’s Office.
If
the bill becomes law, Iowa would join more than 30 states that either
ban expiration dates or say a certain amount of time must pass before
expiration.
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Visa Inc. Plans Massive IPO |
Visa Inc, says it may raise up to $18.8 billion in what would be the largest U.S.
initial public offering ever, amid concern the global credit crunch could eat
into card volumes.
The company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 406
million Class A shares at $37 to $42 each, resulting in $15 billion to $17.1
billion of proceeds. Visa said it might sell another 40.6 million shares to meet
demand, boosting the IPO's potential size to $18.8 billion. San Francisco-based Visa plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "V."
Visa's offering comes amid worries that the U.S. economy
might be entering a recession, which could dampen investor demand for stocks and
IPOs.
Investors may hope Visa shares will fare as well as those of rival MasterCard Inc. MasterCard shares have more than quintupled since that Purchase, New
York-based card network went public in a $2.4 billion IPO in May 2006.
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