Guardian Unlimited reports on PayPal's launch of a UK credit card that will be issued by GE Money.

The Payments Card Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has announced the availability of two new papers: Measuring U.S. Credit Card Borrowing and Recent Developments in Consumer Credit and Payments.

Bank of America has announced it has reached a record 15 million online banking customers, representing more than one-third of the market in the United States, according to comScore.

Digital Insight has announced the results of a new research study into the value of online bill payment that "demonstrates online bill payment users provide significantly greater return than offline customers and represent the most attractive customer demographic for financial institutions."

Visa USA has announced a new small ticket payments strategy focusing on making purchases less than $25 faster, secure and more convenient for millions of cardholders and participating merchants.

Jane Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal on plans by ING Direct to launch a new high-yielding checking account reportedly to be marketed under the brand name "Electric Orange".

Michael Barbaro reports for the New York Times on yesterday's FDIC hearing into Wal-Mart's application to charter an Industrial Loan Corporation in Utah. At the hearing, Wal-Mart pledged that it would "never, ever open bank branches" - a statement designed to address head-on the concerns generated by thousands of community bankers around the country.

Michael Ryval writes for Canada's Globe and Mail about how small merchants view PayPal vs. traditional merchant bank card acquirer relationships - with respect to cost and features, especially fraud protection.

• AP: IRS asks PayPal for help with tax evaders
• Card Technology: Visa Learns Contactless Lesson In Taiwan: Faster Is Better
• Digital Transactions: NACHA’s Web Payment Pilot to Start by Early ’07, Run 12 Months
• Prepaid Media Announces the 2007 Prepaid Card Expo to Be Held in Las Vegas, February 26-28, 2007
• MasterCard Small Business Week Survey Shows 84% of Small Business Owners Believe Natural Disasters Won't Happen to Them
• China Daily: Banks urged to get tough with card fraud
• Global Payments Announces New Payment Processing Agreement With ACH Direct, Inc.
• Association for Financial Professionals and Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking Announce Strategic Alliance for AFP Executive Programs
• China tightens grip on issue of credit cards
• VeriFone Launches Kiosk Solutions Secure Payment Technology; Will Partner With Developers to Meet Demands for Self-Service Payment Applications
• Charlotte Observer: Wachovia's new frontier: Southern California
• DataWave Launches First Instant-Issue Prepaid MasterCard(R) Card Program in Canada
• Bank of America to cut 1,900 jobs, 3 call centers