Yesterday, we announced the first Payments News reader survey on the topic of mobile payments / mobile banking. We've had a tremendous response to the survey in the short time that it's been available online. Read on for some early and interesting "survey exit poll" results!

eBay has announced the preview of eBay Express, "a new website found within the eBay marketplace that provides U.S. shoppers an easy way to find new items at fixed prices from qualified eBay merchants." To qualify as an eBay Express merchant, the seller must accept PayPal and have a history of selling successfully on eBay.

Angela Delli Santi reports for the Associated Press on new legislation introduced by New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez that would "strengthen consumer protections against zealous marketing practices and abuses by credit card companies" who he says will issue credit cards to "anyone with a pulse and a social security number". Read on for the full text of the press release issued by his office on his "Credit Card Bill of Rights".

Washington Mutual is promoting its new free outgoing wire transfers to LA's Latino community. WaMu says it is "making the process of wiring money more affordable by introducing the new WaMu Free Checking account, which offers free foreign and domestic outgoing wire transfers."

BB&T has announced that its OnSite Deposit service has processed more than $1 billion in checks since the image-based service was introduced in March 2005.

Yodlee and Corillian have announced a partnership to ensure support of Yodlee's aggregation-powered financial applications with Corillian's multi-factor authentication solution, Intelligent Authentication.

American Express reported first quarter financial results today that included 16 percent year over year growth in payment volume and a 10 percent growth in cards issued. Amex's average merchant discount rate declined from 2.61% in 1Q05 to 2.58% in 1Q06 while average spending on its proprietary (non-bank partner) cards increased 8 percent year over year.

Cyphermint has announced a new mobile commerce platform called PayCash Mobile.

Robert Jaques reports for vnunet.com about the resurgence in interest around mobile commerce and payments as discussed in a recent In-Stat research study.

As a reminder, Payments News is conducting a reader survey of attitudes about Mobile Payments and Mobile Banking. Click here to participate in the Payments News survey.

RSA Security has announced that it has acquired PassMark Security, a privately held company based in Menlo Park, that "delivers robust software-based authentication to millions of users worldwide, through some of the largest consumer-facing financial institutions."

Patrick L. Thimangu writes for the St. Louis Business Journal about MasterCard's Global Technology and Operations headquarters in O'Fallon, Mo. being one of the best places to work in the St. Louis area.

• Digital Transactions: AmEx Discount Revenues Grow, but Rate Continues To Slip
• iPay Offers Expedited Bill Payments for Community Financial Institutions; Consumers Can Pay Urgent Bills Conveniently, Online
• BANKDetect Introduces RiskTracker-ID/CIP; Web-Based Customer-Screening Solution Meets Industry Need for Efficient Due Diligence and Compliance
• SelfServiceWorld: Double your money: Analyst discusses the self-service explosion
• Daniel Blum - Network World: Authentication: Where's the magic factor?
• T-Mobile and Micropayments Project
• Datacard Launches Instant EMV Card-Personalization System
• Parish National Bank Receives NACHA's 2006 ACH Quality Award for Hurricane Katrina Response
• Denis Concordel Joins BitPass as Vice-President of Product Management
• First Data International to Provide VisionPLUS Solutions to Cetelem in China
• Suze Orman: Be Careful What You Buy in a Bank
• Houston Metro smartens up its fare system
• DM News: Bank of America Fights Phishing as a Unit
• How to protect against stolen card numbers
• Merchant Account Services Stacks the Deck on Credit Card Services
• Experian Consumer Direct Celebrates 10 Years of Connectivity to Quicken