Wells Fargo has announced that, in anticipation of an upcoming rule change by NACHA, it will integrate its automated clearinghouse (ACH) and account reconciliation plan (ARP) systems to better identify and post converted business checks accurately to clients' accounts.

As traditional metrics for measuring ATM performance decline, bank, credit union, and independent sales organization (ISO) ATM deployers are redefining how they manage the ATM channel. According to a new survey sponsored by four electronic payments networks -- CO-OP Financial Services, NYCE, PULSE, and STAR -- and conducted by Dove Consulting, a division of Hitachi Consulting, the ATM industry is becoming increasingly stratified.

Heartland Payment Systems has announced it is launching a major initiative to help owners of small and mid-sized businesses manage the cost and complexity of credit and debit card acceptance. "The Merchant Bill of Rights" is proposed as an industry standard to inform and educate business owners about card processing costs and drive savings for small and mid-sized businesses.

First Data Corp. and Chase Paymentech Solutions have announced a five-year global e-commerce processing agreement in which First Data International, utilizing its OmniPay processing solution, will provide payment processing services to Chase Paymentech's portfolio of global e-Commerce merchants. The OmniPay merchant processing platform, located in Dublin, Ireland, will process transactions for Chase Paymentech's merchant portfolio, in most major currencies on a single platform in all markets where Chase Paymentech's merchants are based.

Ready Credit Corporation and Palm Desert National Bank have announced the launch of a self-service kiosk (called ReadySTATION) that issues a prepaid MasterCard card, enabling consumers to purchase a ReadyCARD Prepaid MasterCard that is activated and ready to use immediately.

Harriet Johnson Brackey writes for the Baltimore Sun about how credit card rewards programs seem to be getting pared back in terms of the benefits provided to consumers.

Saying they want to reduce the hassles associated with other many credit card reward programs, Travelocity and Barclays Bank Delaware (formerly Juniper Bank) have launched the Travelocity Rewards MasterCard. Unlike traditional mileage programs that are restricted by limited seat availability, blackout dates and brand choice, the Travelocity Rewards MasterCard has no blackout dates or travel restrictions and can be redeemed online for travel on any airline, hotel, car rental company, or flight + hotel package available on Travelocity at any time.

Ingrian Networks and Princeton Payment Solutions have announced new, high-performance cryptographic capabilities for SAP applications that enable organizations using SAP applications to encrypt and fully secure their credit card data.

TSYS has announced that it has increased its ownership in China UnionPay Data Services Co. Ltd. to 44.5 percent. CUP Data is China’s largest bankcard processor, providing transaction processing, disaster recovery and other services for issuing banks in China. Since CUP Data was established in 2003, the company has been providing processing services to 16 of China’s 29 credit card-issuing banks, while 12 of the remaining banks continue these services in house.

MyThum Interactive has announced that it has signed a reseller agreement with Mobiqa, a mobile ticketing and mobile coupon solution provider supporting the creation, delivery and redemption of barcodes to mobile phones.

Eiger Systems has announced that its BANK WIZARD and BILLER WIZARD solutions have been enhanced to support banks implementing the UK Faster Payments initiative, which is designed to deliver same day clearing for electronic payments.

Javien Digital Payment Solutions and Gold Mobile have announced they are partnering to provide a comprehensive m-commerce solution for companies planning to capture a share of the mobile content sales market. The partnership has simplified and automated the integration of e-commerce with m-commerce while providing the consumer with many different payment options for purchase or subscription of mobile content.

Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report, "Data Breaches and Identity Fraud: Misunderstanding Could Fail Consumers and Burden Businesses", concluding that incorrect beliefs about the way consumer data breaches have an impact on identity fraud may lead to ineffective actions taken by consumers. Javelin says the misunderstandings may also lead to flawed protective measures taken by corporations as well as state and local governments.

Experian-Scorex has announced its Global Bureau Scoring Solutions suite that enables lenders and credit bureaus to enrich their data and turn it into more powerful customer intelligence. The suite is comprised of four distinct components: Smart Start Bureau Scores, Global Bureau Gateway, Global Portfolio Quality Assessment and Value-Added Bureau Solutions.

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• David Duncan has been named managing director of TSYS Asia-Pacific.
• David Gagie has been named president of financial services at Neteller.