The Federal Reserve has announced its approval of the Bank of America acquisition of MBNA:

The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced its approval of the proposal filed by Bank of America Corporation, Charlotte, North Carolina, to merge with MBNA Corporation and acquire its two subsidiary banks, MBNA America Bank, National Association and MBNA America (Delaware), N.A., all in Wilmington, Delaware.

Axalto has announced it has been selected by Carte Bleue for the launch of the Gift Card, the first prepaid EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) payment card for the consumer market.

eBay has announced that it is making some changes to make it easier for sellers to market digital goods. Details on eBay's Digital Items page and its Digital items FAQ page. Digital goods sellers will be required to list items for payment only by PayPal.

INSIDE Contactless has announced the closing of a €9 million ($10.6 million) financing round led by three new investors: Sofinnova, Vertex Venture Capital (Israel) and Visa International. Prior round investors GIMV, Vertex Singapore and Siparex have also participated.

Fair Isaac has announced new agreements with Fiserv EFT and Alaska Option Network to utilize Fair Isaac's CardAlert Fraud Manager for early identification and reporting of suspected counterfeit card and skimming fraud.

MBNA and Merrill Lynch have announced that they have agreed to extend the multi-year agreement under which MBNA issues the MERRILL+ credit card. The terms of the new agreement have not been disclosed, however the agreement period extends beyond the anticipated early January close of the pending merger between MBNA and Bank of America.

<Pay By Touch has announced it has acquired the assets and intellectual property of 7th Street Software, Inc. and Convena, LLC, two loyalty technology providers.

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

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