BilltoBill Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian online payments solutions provider Oriel Communications Limited, has announced it has entered into an agreement to supply payment services to Sonopress, a subsidiary of Arvato AG (a Bertelsmann company) and Microsoft in China.

Maritz Loyalty Marketing has announced that a recent study found that rewards program members are more likely to have spent a greater amount of money in the past six months across the 11 retail categories examined in the study, including home improvement, electronics, grocery and book stores.

NYPay has announced its formation as "New York City's premiere networking forum for professionals in the payments industry."

Richard Gamble writes for Treasury & Risk Management about remote deposit and how JP Morgan Chase's remote capture service is helping accelerate accounts receivable processing. "Consolidation of banking services is definitely one of the significant benefits companies can realize and one of the factors motivating banks to gain a competitive advantage by working on ways to automate processes like accounts receivable that in the past did not traditionally involve them directly."

Mercator Advisory Group has released "Extending The PIN: Evaluating The Growth of EFT Networks Into New Markets", a new research report examining the growth of EFT networks.

Wells Fargo has announced plans to open a technology resource facility in Hyderabad, India later this year -- citing "a growing need for technology talent that can no longer be supplied solely in the U.S."

First Data Corp. has announced results from its STAR Consumer Payments Usage Study finding that consumers who use both PIN and signature debit at the point-of-sale (POS) conduct an average of nearly 23 transactions per month versus 14 for those who solely use signature and 10 for those using only PIN.

Robin Sidel and Anjali Athavaley reports for the Wall St. Journal on a "sweeping overhaul" expected to be announced today of American Express' Membership Rewards cardholder rewards program. Among the expected changes are the elimination of double rewards points when Amex cards are used for "everyday spending" at supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations. The article says that Amex is planning to launch next month a new "Bonus Point Mall, which will award Membership Rewards members two points for each dollar spent at the online-shopping sites of more than 100 online retailers."

Bruce V. Bigelow of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes a profile of Beth Givens, founding director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego nonprofit group "dedicated to helping consumers deal with the darker disadvantages of the information age."

Riva Richmond writes for the Wall St. Journal about several startups offering new services to help prevent identity theft. Included are TrustedID, which focuses on freezing credit information at credit bureaus, and LifeLock, which manages placing fraud alerts on consumer credit files. Others mentioned include CardCops, Cyveillence, and ID Analytics.

• MedCom USA, Inc. Engages Law Firm Orum & Roth, LLC to Begin Licensing Arrangements Concerning MedCom's Card Activation Patent