Visa Usa Inc

Visa USA Inc. and American Express Co. are cutting ties with the payment-processing company that left 40 million credit and debit card accounts vulnerable to hackers in one of the biggest breaches of consumer data security. CardSystems Solutions Inc. "has not corrected and cannot at this point correct the failure to provide proper data security for Visa accounts," said Rosetta Jones, a vice president at Foster City, Calif.-based Visa. She said banks that issue Visa cards would have until Oct.

California and four other states are apparently investigating alleged antitrust practices in the credit-card industry, taking their cue from a nearly concluded 18-month Justice Department probe, two people familiar with the probe told Bloomberg News. The states, like the federal investigation, are reportedly focusing on Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International rules that bar member U.S. banks from offering competing credit cards from rivals such as American Express Co.

Two of the nation's best-known credit card companies said Thursday that they filed a joint lawsuit accusing a telemarketing operation of massive international fraud by "laundering" credit card receipts. Visa International Service Assn. and MasterCard International Inc. allege in the suit that individuals and telemarketing firms in several states violated federal racketeering and copyright laws through the scheme.

Visa U.S.A. and Mastercard International agreed to abandon a national debit card venture to settle charges by 14 states that they schemed to monopolize the emerging market, it was announced Tuesday. But the giant credit card associations--the world's largest with a combined 370 million cardholders worldwide--denied the allegations and said they agreed to the settlement partly to avoid a lengthy legal battle. Both said they would continue developing separate debit card systems.

Visa USA said it will require merchants that accept Visa payments to display only the last four digits of a card number on receipts in an effort to thwart a surge in financial identity theft. New terminals that process payment by Visa cards will be outfitted with the information-masking function beginning in July, the company said. Visa wants all merchants accepting Visa card payments to remove the first 12 digits of the card number and its expiration date from receipts by July 2006.

Target Corp., the third-largest U.S. discount retailer, said it will become the first store in the country to offer its customers credit cards with computer chips. Target, in an alliance with Visa USA, will issue the "smart" cards through its subsidiary, Retailers National Bank, later this year. The company will install special terminals that can read information off the chip in all 990 Target stores next year.

Credit card company Visa USA announced an online payment service that offers greater security to consumers who use their credit or debit cards to pay for products they purchase on the Internet. Called Verified by Visa, the program allows participating banks to confirm a cardholder's identity immediately through the use of a password during the online checkout process. Consumers can register for Verified by Visa through their participating card-issuing banks or through http://www.visa.

Visa USA said it renewed its sponsorship of the Triple Crown, making it the preferred card at Churchill Downs, Pimlico Race Course and Belmont Park, where Charismatic will attempt to become the 12th triple crown winner on Saturday. Financial terms weren't disclosed. . . . Publicis, a French advertising agency that's been on a shopping spree lately, acquired a 49% stake in Chicago-based Burrell Communications, a black-owned agency and specialist in advertising to minorities.

Retailers that won a $3-billion antitrust settlement from Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc. are questioning a bid by the U.S. government to get a share of the settlement money. In a Feb. 1 letter to the judge overseeing the case, the lead attorney representing the retailers said there was a "serious question" about whether the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Service, which had filed claims Jan. 27, should be given a piece of the landmark settlement.