Kevin Delaney and Mylene Mangalindan report for the Wall St. Journal on rumored plans by Google to offer an electronic Google payment service to compete with eBay's PayPal.

PayPal has introduced PayPal Website Payments Pro, a new all-in-one online payment solution for merchants that combines the features of a merchant account with a payment gateway into a single provider, PayPal.

Website Payments Pro supports merchant acceptance of Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, bank transfers and PayPal balance payments. A comparison chart compares Website Payments Pro with other alternatives.

Pricing for Website Payments Pro ranges from 2.2 to 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction. A $20 monthly fee is also charged. There are no setup or cancellation charges.

Signup requires a PayPal Business Account along with much of the same information required to setup a traditional merchant account (type of business, business owner's SSN, etc.). PayPal says applicants can expect a two day turnaround on their Website Payments Pro application.

Late this afternoon, MasterCard announced it had identified a serious security breach of card information at CardSystems Solutions, Inc., a third-party processor of payment card data.

According to MasterCard's press release, the breach potentially exposed more than 40 million cards of all brands to fraud. MasterCard estimates approximately 13.9 millon MasterCard-branded cards may be affected.

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James Gilden writes for the travel section of this Sunday's Los Angeles Times on the costs of currency conversion when using credit cards to pay overseas.

Last month, MBNA announced in a mailing to its cardholders that it would begin charging a 3% "cross-border transaction" fee. So for my foreign travels, it is goodbye, MBNA, and hello, Providian, which does not charge the added fee.

Arik Hesseldahl reports for Forbes.com on Pay By Touch's new president and COO John Morris and its current deployment of its fingerprint-based payment system with Piggly Wiggly.

Grocers, he says, sweat over seconds and track the average time it takes to get a customer through the check-out line. The faster the better. A transaction using a paper check takes on average about 64 seconds; credit card transactions take 40 to 45 seconds; debit cards about 35; and cash about 29, which includes the "fumble factor"--allowing the clerk to count out change. Once a consumer is enrolled with the Pay By Touch system, they can pay in as little as 14 seconds by holding their finger up to a scanner and entering a number--usually their home phone number, to add a little extra layer of authentication.

Bank of America announced yesterday that it had entered into a definitive agreement with China Construction Bank (CCB), the second largest commercial bank in China, to purchase 9 percent of CCB's stock for $3 billion and obtained an option to increase its stake up to 19.9 percent in the future. As part of the deal, it looks like Bank of America has secured its retail banking and payment card partner for China.

As part of the transaction, CCB and Bank of America have entered into separate agreements for Bank of America to provide strategic assistance to CCB in the areas of corporate governance, risk management, IT, financial management, human resource management, retail banking (including credit card), and global treasury services.

As part of this strategic assistance program, Bank of America will provide approximately 50 personnel to advise CCB in these key areas. Bank of America will also have a seat on CCB's board of directors.

With the Bank of America partnership, CCB becomes the first of China's "Big Four" banks to reach an agreement with a foreign strategic investor. The transaction represents the single largest foreign investment in a Chinese company to date.

Last month CCB became the first commercial bank in China to win MasterCard's Asia-Pacific Best Innovation prize for MasterCard Debit Cards. CCB also was awarded MasterCard's Greater-China Best MasterCard Debit Card 2004.

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Ann Davis and Robin Sidel report for the Wall St. Journal that Morgan Stanley's plan to spinoff Discover, announced in April, is being reassessed.

A big concern is that the credit-card unit may need a bigger capital infusion from Morgan Stanley to become a stand-alone, publicly traded entity, than previously was thought, these people say. The possible need for a larger infusion makes a spinoff of Discover less attractive, the people say.

Business Week takes a look at turning phones into virtual wallets for payments.

C-SAM Inc., a tiny, privately owned software developer in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., is expected to announce plans on June 20 to roll out a service early next year that will allow people to use their phones as credit cards. Says C-SAM CEO Sam Pitroda: "I believe the whole concept of money is going to change."

"For U.S. consumers, it has to be simple to use," says Tom J. Manessis, Visa's head of emerging opportunities. "To click through six menus is not simple."

Next Estate Communications, which claims it has more than 90 percent market share with its association-branded prepaid cards, has announced that it is partnering with Walgreens to offer GreenDot prepaid cards to consumers.

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• Pago Report 2005: Manipulated Credit Card Data Rising in E-Commerce
• How PayPal and eBay are fighting back the phishers
• China: Public Security Bureau And Banks Form Anti-Phishing Alliance
• Virginia gets tough on payday lenders
• Minimum Payments No Longer Enough

Note: This posting is updated regularly throughout the day.