Bloomberg reports on comments made by Queen Elizabeth II in her annual speech to Parliament laying out the plans of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government. In her comments she indicated that the government is planning to reform consumer credit rules for the first time in 30 years.

The BBC has more on this story.

Fiserv has announced that it is in negotiations with three of Australia's largest banks -- Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac Banking Corporation -- to manage the operations of a proposed check processing joint venture.

Robin Sidel and Ann Davis report in the Wall St. Journal on what's ahead for Discover.

"Over the last couple of years, we focused on credit quality versus growth. Now we're focusing on both and continuing to invest in marketing to grow our portfolio," says Roger Hochschild, president and chief operating officer of Discover, which is based in Riverwoods, Ill.

IDG's Paul Roberts surveys the technologies that aim to curb online identity theft.

Monica Soto Ouchi reports in the Seattle Times on the expected growth in gift card giving this holiday season.

Jon Ortiz reports on the same story in this morning's Sacramento Bee.