First Data losses increase

Consumer credit is expanding, First Data’s chief financial officer said, as the U.S. continues its slow but steady economic recovery.

The changes are good for First Data’s business said Ray Winborne, CFO of the Atlanta payment company, in a conference call Tuesday.

Transactions for the company are up 6 percent in the second quarter, the highest volume growth First Data had seen since 2011. People are increasingly paying with PIN debit cards, instead of signature debit cards or credit cards.

Winborne said new CEO Frank Bisignano wants to focus on improving the business, which lost $189 million in the second quarter after losing $157 million in the same quarter a year ago. But the company’s growth strategy has not changed, he said.

“What you’re seeing is just tighter execution of the basics of the business…” Winborne said. “And I think the only thing I would say has changed is the intensity and the focus on execution.”