Nicolas Parasie writes for the Dow Jones Newswires about plans by ING Direct to expand its presence in the US market and potentially offer "e-orange", a checking account without paper checks.

Guy Brighton has posted an item to the blog PSFK.com reporting that PayPal has soft launched a new PayPal Mobile offering. MobileTracker.com has more about PayPal Mobile including activation instructions. PayPal has posted a new user agreement/policy for mobile payments. READ MORE

In a cover story in the latest issue, Fortune senior writer Shawn Tully looks behind the scenes at JP Morgan Chase's new CEO, Jamie Dimon.

Peppercoin has announced the demonstration of a prototype of a first-of-its-kind contactless mass transit fare collection system that enables consumers to use their existing credit or debit card as their transit pass for the first time.

The federal financial institution regulatory agencies and the Federal Trade Commission have jointly issued for comment an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on section 312 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act).

First Data Corp. has announced an affiliation with Retail Decisions to provide an enhanced fraud detection solution for First Data's global online merchants.

OPEN from American Express and Sovereign Bank have announced that Sovereign will offer American Express Business Cards to its small business customers throughout the Northeast. The agreement calls for the companies to jointly market small business charge and credit cards that carry the Sovereign Bank and American Express brands.

Beginning April 1, 2006, Bank of America customers traveling to China will have free access when using debit or ATM cards to withdraw cash from more than 11,000 foreign-enabled China Construction Bank ATMs. CCB's "Happy Investor" cardholders will enjoy the same benefit when using one of nearly 17,000 Bank of America ATMs in the United
States.

Tracy Kitten writes for ATMmarketplace.com about last weeks annual Palm Desert National Bank partner conference and some of the initiatives - like prepaid debit - that the bank is pursuing.

IndexCreditCards.com has announced the results of recent research into the extra fees cardholders can expect to pay major US credit card issuers when using their cards overseas.

Susan Chandler reports for the Chicago Tribune on what happened at Sears back in 2002 when CEO Alan Lacy walked in and fired Sears Credit head Kevin Keleghan. At the time, Sears Credit contributed about 10 percent of Sears' revenue but provided the majority of its operating profit. "Sears was really a finance company with a retail empire attached."

• North Island Credit Union Selects PassMark to Provide Fraud, Identity Theft Protection for Its Online Banking Customers
• International Biometric Industry Association Names AuthenTec and Cogent Systems CEOs to Its Board of Directors; Expanded Board Reflects Growth in Consumer, Commercial and Government Biometrics
• UK: OFT wins credit card cover appeal
• Agricultural Bank of China to Join Hands with Alibaba in B2B E-payment Field
• SVC Financial Announces Strategic Sales and Distribution Relationship With Virtual Lending Source (VLS)
• Digital Persona Deploys World's Largest Biometric Banking Application
• Your Cell Is A Slacker: Mobile Phones Are More Fun Outside The U.S.
• Verifone in talks to acquire Lipman at $800-900m value
• Online Security Threats Highlight Need for Smart Card-Based Authentication Systems