Geoff Griffin of Edgar, Dunn has posted a piece on payment risk mitigation for card issuers.

We believe that collecting cardholder payments more quickly and optimizing the clearing and settlement channel based on a combination of risk and other factors provides a strong foundation for effective payment risk mitigation. The seven key payment risk mitigation strategies outlined here not only reduce risk exposures but can also lead to increased cardholder spend and fewer customer service calls.

BCG is out with a new report today titled "Creating Value in Payments" that examines how the most successful banks create shareholder value.

Consolidation in global banking continues apace. The world's largest ten banking companies increased their share of worldwide bank market capitalization to 24 percent in 2002 from 19 percent in 1998.

Another interesting BCG study published in late May examines how banks might choose to use the strategies of Dell and Nike to compete more effectively by achieving scale in non-core business activities without paying acquisition premiums to get there.