The Asian Banker reports on Visa's activities in its Asia/Pacific region.

“The big prize for China is to try to work with China Union Pay and the banks there to modernize the domestic structure,” says Keeley, “which we’ve been very supportive of. We’ve been working with China Union Pay very positively, and with the PBoC, to make sure that the China market is developed with international standards, which they’ve been very keen to do.”

“I’m sure that there will be speed bumps along the road,” adds Keeley when talking about the growth expected in China, and he highlights the importance of moving carefully in China is to ensure issuers have good risk management practices, responsible lending, good credit underwriting, and “all the basics of good banking – know your customer, understanding how to best advance credit, good collections policy, responsible lending…”

Hiawatha Bray writes in the Boston Globe about identity theft - and how attempting to protect personal information may not be the complete answer. He suggests a financial industry parallel to the "do not call" idea -- "do not issue."

These systems are far from perfect; credit card companies still lose millions to fraud. But confirming transactions is far easier than confirming identities. So Congress should take a look at a promising proposal called ''do-not-issue." Modeled after the ''do-not-call" list that has helped stamp out the curse of telemarketing, do-not-issue would let people block credit-reporting agencies from issuing credit reports without permission.

Melissa Allison reports in a major article in the Seattle Times about phishing attacks.

"Most banks spend more on washing windows than on money lost to phishing," said Jim Bruene, editor of the Online Banking Report, a Seattle-based newsletter. "But it is a huge issue in consumer confidence and the ability of a bank to market online and deal with a customer on the Internet."

Fair Isaac and Your Credit Card Companies have issued a press release with recommendations as to what consumers can do to improve their FICO scores.