On the tenth anniversary of Tesco’s move into banking in the UK, Steve Worthington, professor and marketing specialist at Monash University in Melbourne, and independent banking consultant Peter Welch have authored a new report titled "Banking at the Checkout" that examines the the impact (or lack thereof) of the retailers on the financial services market.

William Raveis Real Estate and Home Services, the largest family owned real estate firm in New England, has announced the William Raveis Rewards Card, a no-annual-fee American Express Card from MBNA.

The Hartford Financial Services Group has announced that it will be offering its property insurance policyholders who sustain losses from a natural or man-made disaster the option of receiving money for certain covered expenses with an Emergency Claim Card from The Hartford, a debit card issued by
JPMorgan Chase.

Susannah Fox and Jean Beier of the Pew Internet & American Life Project examine consumer usage of online banking usage and make a number of observations including noting a "trust gap" that may be slowing adoption of online banking by new users and a skew in terms of adoption of online banking in favor of those with more disposable income.

At Glenbrook, we've recently heard about ConveniaLoad from a couple of our industry colleagues involved in various prepaid card programs. Based upon a quick look at the company's web site, here's a brief overview of what's interesting to us about ConveniaLoad.

Discover Network has announced the establishment of a Merchant Advisory Council intended to "provide a forum for Discover Network and member merchants to identify and address relevant issues and trends in the payments industry, such as security and fraud protection, merchant support, and new payment technologies."

David Lazarus writes for the San Francisco Chronicle about Panama-based named Goldwell Corp. and an online service it runs called ChargeBack Bureau (chargebackbureau.org). According to Lazarus, the service, which has some consumer advocates upset, enables online retailers to report consumer chargebacks and then allows them to evaluate potentially risky customers by sharing across the group from the combined database of reported chargebacks.

eBay has introduced eBay Alerts, an extension of eBay Wireless which "enables users to win more listings on eBay even while on the go." eBay Alerts notify users with eBay listing updates through phone calls, text messages and instant messages, and allow users to bid on auction-style listings from their wireless devices. Unlike the alerts currently provided by most financial institutions, eBays Alerts appear to be "actionable" in that, once they've been received, users can act on them by, for example, re-bidding on an auction by replying with a text message.

Countrywide Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corporation, has announced the launch of a new high yield online savings account, SavingsLink, offering a rate of up to 5.00% APY. Unlike most existing products on the market, Countrywide's SavingsLink uses a tiered interest rate model that rewards customers who save more by offering higher interest rates for higher balances: currently $1000-$49,999 is 4.25%; $50,000-$2,499,999 is 5.00%; $2,500,000 and over is 1.50%.

Wells Fargo plans to begin distributing Wells Fargo Visa Platinum Credit Card and Wells Fargo Visa Signature Credit Card with Visa Contactless to customers in the second half of 2006.

CyberSource and BidPay.com, Inc. have announced the re-launch of the popular BidPay auction payment service. Acquired by CyberSource in March 2006, BidPay "now returns with a number of competitive innovations including seller protection and the ability for sellers to accept payments from buyers around the world."

eFunds Retail Solutions, formerly ClearCommerce, has announced eFunds RAPIDReviewer, a new workflow and data management solution that helps Internet retailers improve the performance and efficiency of their manual order review process for suspicious transactions.

• B-Teller positioned to be leader in the implementation of Single European Payments Area, also known as SEPA
  
• U.S. Bank and American Military Society Offer New Credit Card for Members
  
• Cashedge Appoints Paul Grantham As Chief Operating Officer
  
• Business Week: JPMorgan: The Bank Of Technology
  
• Euronet Receives Money Transmitter Licenses to Operate in Key U.S. States - Texas, Florida and New Jersey
  
• Hypercom Expands Global Distribution Network, Convenes Global Partners Summit
  
• American Express Announces $10 Million Commitment for Historic Preservation Through 'Partners In Preservation' Program
  
• First Niagara Bank Exchanges all Check Images Electronically with Multiple Banks Using Open Solutions' ISCheck(TM) Image-based Solution
  
• GIVEX, TONI & GUY, Win European Card Based Solution of the Year
  
• Red alert as card fraudsters target South Africa's banks