New Hampshire's Union Leader profiles Park Smart Technologies, a Hampton Falls, NH-based company hoping to bring cards to parking meters.

Using an “e-purse” technology developed by a partner in Dublin, Ireland, Park Smart makes use of a secure “pre-paid stored value card” that holds a specific dollar amount. The card can be easily inserted in newly built parking meters or those that have been modified to accept the plastic. While “smart card” technology has been around since the late 1970s, it’s gone largely unused by the parking industry.

In this morning's New York Times, Landon Thomas Jr. profiles Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon -- following the announcement earlier this week of Dimon's merger of Bank One with JP Morgan Chase. READ MORE »

The community bank oriented Independent Community Bankers of America is concerned about the implications of large bank mergers on the industry.

"These mergers have enormous public policy implications. First, the trillion dollar banks that will result from these megamergers will be too big to regulate effectively," said Ken Guenther, President of ICBA. "Secondly, these banks will be too big to fail and therefore will pose a systemic risk to the FDIC's Bank Insurance Fund."

Guenther also predicts that, following these mergers, the largest banks will attempt to amend the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act which prohibits a bank merger if the resulting bank would control more than 10 percent of the deposits in the United States. "Community banks will resist any attempt to increase the 10 percent cap imposed by the Riegle-Neal Act or to broaden the definition of "deposit" under that Act," said Guenther.

Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton shares his personal perspective on bank mergers from the Phoenix perspective.

I spent the gaudiest years of the roaring '90s as a financial journalist in Charlotte, N.C., while the hometown banks conquered America. Charlotte became the nation's second most important banking center, after New York, and this dull Southern city was transformed into a rich, glittery metropolis. Every merger showered Charlotte with power, capital and high salaries.

Eric Reguly reports in the Globe and Mail on merger possibilities among the major Canadian banks.

Given the size differential, it's absurd to argue mergers among the Canadian banks would turn them into competitive, international players. Through no fault of Ottawa, that game was lost years -- maybe decades -- ago. The only debate now is whether the Canadian banks should strive to become solid third-tier players or give up entirely and hit the sell button.