Cynthia Cho reports in the Wall St. Journal on RFID-based PowerPay and its deployments at several football stadiums this season.

China Daily reports on a new alliance between Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group and Visa International.

Lenovo will become the preferred information technology equipment vendor for Visa International worldwide.

Celent Communications has published a new report examining the state of the smart card payment industry that projects that "smart cards will have a significant presence by 2012 in the U.S. and Europe, despite the lack of initiatives in the U.S. over the past few years. The analysts say smart cards, also called chip cards, will overtake magnetic stripes and revolutionize the payment industry."

Christopher Conkey reports in today's Wall St. Journal on the range of payment options available to consumers this holiday season.

From cash and checks to credit cards and the increasingly popular debit cards, it's easy to get confused. Debit purchases, for example, are often made with "check cards," while recent banking regulations are spurring many check payments to be scanned at cash registers as if they were debit cards. It has created what leading expert Mark Budnitz, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law, calls "a complicated and bewildering exercise for consumers."

AP Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio reports on how the surge in gift card sales is altering merchant financial results.

Gift card sales are not booked as revenues until the cards are redeemed. And, with more merchants eliminating fees that erode card values if cards are not used immediately, recipients have little incentive to spend right away. Greater use of the cards also is forcing retailers to consider stocking less merchandise earlier in the season and increasing the flow of goods in January, Slater said.

Global Payments is expanding its worldwide presence in the money transfer industry through the acquisition of Europhil.

The Hindu Business Line reports on the launch of card to card money transfer services in India by IDBI Bank and Visa International.

David Lazarus reports in the San Francisco Chronicle on WebLoyalty, a Connecticut-based direct marketing firm.

Webloyalty is able to obtain people's credit card numbers directly from many of its partners and will charge monthly fees for a service some people might not realize they've signed up for.

Exante Financial Services has announced a new Health Savings Account MasterCard debit card.

Cyota has announced that it has closed a new $7.25 million financing round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.