Bank of America is clearly not in the mood to just stand by and watch as technology firms like Google, Square, PayPal and LevelUp eat into the market share of banks and credit card companies in the payments market with mobile payment offerings.
FORBES: BofA Is Sick Of Square, Rolls Out New Mobile Payment System
Improvement in the macro economic outlook will lead to higher retail spending and greater outstanding credit card balances, a notable positive for Bank of America as the company has nearly 14% share of the U.S. debit card market and roughly 13% share of the U.S. credit card market.
In short, the CARD Act is basically causing a revitalization of free market principles within the credit card space.
In my view, the ruling essentially brings a heavier dose of the free market to the credit card business in that it will let merchants offer discounts and special deals to customers depending on which piece of plastic they use to pay for things.
The unusual thing about the credit-card market is how the costs of those market-share battles are allocated.
FORBES: DOJ Suit Against Amex Pits Consumers Against Merchants
The private-label corner of the U.S. credit-card market is enjoying a resurgence as fewer Americans fall behind on their payments.
Ms. CHU: The credit card market is just a fraction of the mortgage market, so the effect is not going to be as big.
Currently, Capital One has 6% of the U.S. credit card market.
Visa and MasterCard now face a massive class action, led by Wal-Mart Stores (nyse: WMT - news - people ), that accuses them of using their clout in the credit card market to force retailers to accept their debit cards, which carry higher processing costs.
And corporate breaches spill millions of customers' credit card information into the black market: A breach in January at the retailer TJ Maxx revealed the private financial data of more than 46 million customers, while Certegy Credit Systems, a branch of Fidelity National Information Services, announced last week that a former employee had stolen and sold customers' data, exposing as many as 2.3 million accounts.
And corporate breaches spill millions of customers' credit card information into the black market: A breach in January at the retailer TJ Maxx (nyse: TJX - news - people ) revealed the private financial data of more than 46 million customers, while Certegy Credit Systems, a branch of Fidelity National Information Services, announced last week that a former employee had stolen and sold customers' data, exposing as many as 2.3 million accounts.
Given the underdeveloped credit-card market, only 10-15% of Ms Yu's customers use them.
PayNearMe is focusing on the large market of an estimated 25% of Americans who do not have a credit or debit card to transfer money.
FORBES: PayNearMe Expands Its Cash Payment Network Internationally
In Japan, overdrafts are practically unheard of, and the consumer-finance market is almost six times bigger than the growing but underdeveloped credit-card market.
The quest for an instant market base on which to build motivates buyouts of consumer banking businesses like Chase's credit-card operation in Singapore.
One of the latest to go on the market is the ComPass Card in Hong Kong, which works as a credit card, a bank and supermarket card, and even awards bonus points on the holder's birthday.
The TALF was created by the Fed to lure capital from the sidelines to support the consumer loan market by extending credit to investors for the purchase of certain designated securities backed by student loans, auto loans, and credit card debt.
应用推荐