As mentioned in an American Banker story last week, GE Consumer Finance has announced a relationship with eBay Inc. and PayPal Inc. to launch the new PayPal Plus MasterCard, a credit card offering both rewards and extended purchase protection for purchases made via the PayPal Web site.

Visa USA has announced the appointment of Robert Hackney to its board of directors. Hackney is president of Card Services For Credit Unions, Inc. (CSCU), the largest credit union card processing association in the United States, serving 3,500 members. In addition to his general board responsibilities, Hackney will also serve on the board's Audit and Risk Committee.

Helio, a new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) launched earlier this month by SK Telecom and Earthlink, includes new "gifting" and "begging" features for its subscribers to gift a purchased music video, game or other content from their Helio handset to another Helio subscriber. Begging does the opposite, allowing a subscriber to request a gift from another subscriber. Helio's got a blog called Helio Mag where the company talks about its service and what's cool.

Edgar, Dunn & Company's May Insight newsletter features an article by Tanya Martin and Manika Aggarwal titled "Assessing SEPA: Understanding the Strategic Implications for Key Stakeholders in the Cards Business" (PDF). In the article, they question whether the EU/EPC might be "paving the way" for larger payments players (including non-European players such as First Data or Citibank) to dominate the market by "leveling the playing field" with the SEPA principles.

Kiosk Marketplace links to a white paper from Source Technologies (PDF) about in-person bill payments using kiosks.

General Electric Company Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt has announced a US$250 million investment in infrastructure and healthcare projects in India and said that GE intends to dramatically expand its industrial and financial presence in the country.

Varya Taylor writes for the Bank of Canada Review's Spring 2006 issue about the trends in retail payments (PDF) in Canada based upon a survey commissioned by the Bank of Canada. The article particularly focuses on cash and consumer attitudes towards the use and holdings of cash by the public. There's a wonderful graphic (Chart 11) on page 32 of the article that shows Canadian consumer preferences for payment methods (cash, debit, credit) for various transaction amounts.

A couple of weeks ago, PayPal's Jeff Jordan hosted an online Town Hall meeting, one of a series that eBay holds monthly. The transcript (PDF) and audio from that meeting are now available on the eBay web site. Here's an interesting quote from the transcript by PayPal's Dana Stalder in response to a question about PayPal's merchant pricing: "PayPal is 100% committed to being the lowest cost solution for eBay sellers and for any online merchant, period." Read the transcript - it's interesting and fun!

MasterCard has announced that Travelocity has made MasterCard SecureCode available on its consumer website, Travelocity.com.

CRM Today reports on The 2006 State of Retailing Online, the ninth annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research of 174 retailers. According to the report 2006 online sales (including travel) are expected to rise 20 percent to $211.4 billion while sales excluding travel will reach $138 billion. Last year, online sales reportedly rose 25 percent to $176.4 billion (including travel) and, excluding travel, online retail sales rose 28 percent to $113.6 billion.

Sandra Block writes for USA Today on what consumers can do to manage the costs of currency conversion when traveling overseas and using bank cards.

As part of a series on identity theft titled "Stolen Lives - A Breeding Groud", New York Times writers John Leland and Tom Zeller Jr. report on a wave of identity theft in the Scottsdale and Phoenix area - reporting that big part of the problem is that "In recent years banks have campaigned energetically to extend more credit to more people with fewer hassles, and retailers and consumers have embraced instant, near-anonymous access to credit."

Martin H. Bosworth writes for ConsumerAffairs.com about MasterCard's recent IPO with a perspective about how it has shifted risk from MasterCard's original bank owners to the public investors who now own shares in the company.

• VeriFone Forms Strategic Alliance with D-Link; Companies Team Up to Ease Merchant Adoption of Wi-Fi Enhanced Electronic Payment
  
• Yahoo!’s New Pact with eBay Promises More Payments for PayPal
  
• Card Technology: China Mobile To Test NFC For Mobile Ticketing And Payment
  
  
• ACH Direct Launches ACH Education Program for Customers
  
• Travelex Survey Shows North American Companies Significantly Exposed to Foreign Exchange Risk
  
• Tri Counties Bank Selects Corillian for Next-Generation Online Banking and Security Services
  
• Moneris Solutions Rolls Out Small Business Gift Card Program
  
• National City Offers Instant Visa TravelMoney Card in Its Network of More Than 1,200 Branches Across Seven States
  
• Fifth Third Bank Launches World MasterCard(R) For its Private Client Group Clients
  
• Innovative Card Technologies Completes $11.3 Million Private Equity Financing
  
• CIO India: Card Fraudsters Set a Cracking Pace
  
• VeriFone Appoints Former Mastercard CEO to Board of Directors; Pete Hart Brings Decades of Payment Industry Experience
  
• Gemplus Wins Contract for Next Generation E-Healthcare Patient Cards in France
  
• MarketWatch: Biometrics gain in consumer products with promise of convenience, security
  
  
• Telegraph (UK): RBS joins Bank of China in credit card venture
  
• Ticketmaster Obtains a License Under The Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. Patents
  
• UK: BMW financial services move on the cards
  
• GSU Drops Visa Cards For Tuition Payments