Pay By Touch and NCR Corporation have announced an alliance to offer merchants around the world a single point of contact for supporting their entire merchant and consumer biometric needs.

Samar Farah reports for CMO Magazine on Bill Me Later and on eToys Direct's experience adding Bill Me Later as an additional payment type.Samar Farah reports for CMO Magazine on Bill Me Later and on eToys Direct's experience adding Bill Me Later as an additional payment type.

MasterCard and Peppercoin have announced signing a Letter of Intent towards forming an alliance to accelerate card usage for small payments at the physical point of sale and online.

Ipsos Insight and Peppercoin have announced the results of a recent survey that found consumers' desire to use credit and debit cards for small payments and micropayments at the point of sale and online is on the rise. An estimated 45 million Americans are willing to use credit or debit cards for purchases of $5 or less, up 23 percent from September 2004.

comScore Networks has released a new analysis showing an increase in the number of non-loyal customers in the pure online segment of the banking industry.

The New York Times is reporting that Pay By Touch is expected to announce today the acquisition of BioPay, its chief rival in the fingerprint biometric payments market.

Update: Here's the official Pay By Touch press release on the acquisition.

New Edge Networks has announced that it has established high-speed direct network connections with First Data Corp. that will allow New Edge Network merchants to use First Data for processing bankcard transactions faster and at no added cost.

The state of Indiana has announced that it will soon pay unemployment compensation and child support payments to recipients through the use of prepaid MasterCard or Visa branded cards. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development (IDWD) is soliciting proposals from vendors on behalf of its unemployment insurance program, and on behalf of the Department of Child Services for child support payments and other programs.

MasterCard this morning has filed an amended S-1/A Registration Statement with the SEC.

JCB has announced that more than 500,000 JCB LINDA women-oriented cards have been issued since the card's launch in 2002. JCB is celebrating its success with the new JCB LINDA Sweet card featuring a refreshing citrus-based fragrance, a limited edition of 20,000 cards.

Korea.net reports on action being taken by the government in South Korea "to oblige financial institutions to compensate consumers for virtually all financial losses from hackers' intrusions into online financial accounts and personal data starting September next year. "

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated.

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