Philip Lowe, Assistant Governor (Financial System) of the Reserve Bank of Australia has given a presentation to the Australian Bankers' Association and the Australian Payments Clearing Association Forum titled "Payment Systems Evolution: Where to From Here?" (PDF). A background paper titled Payment Systems Developments and Architecture: Some Background (PDF) is also available. The presentation and background paper examine two related issues: whether the development of payment products in Australia has been keeping pace with that abroad and on the implications of a number of Australia's payment systems being based on bilateral technical and business linkages vs. a more centralized approach.

TowerGroup has announced a new research report titled "Prepaid Cards: A Critical Market Foundation of Europe's SEPA Plans" that concludes that a sharp rise in the deployment of prepaid products over the next 10 years will be key to supporting bank profitability. However, TowerGroup also "believes that European banks success will be elusive as long as the use of cash remains high - underscoring the need for a true debit-based alternative that does not include identity recognition as part of the electronic payment."   » Continue Reading

MobileLime has announced that Chevy Chase Supermarket is the first merchant in the Washington DC metro area to offer its patrons rewards and instant savings linked to their cell phone with Mobile Rewards from MobileLime.   » Continue Reading

ShopNBC and GE Retail Consumer Finance have announced they have entered into an exclusive multi-year agreement to launch a new ShopNBC branded MasterCard as well as an improved ShopNBC private label credit card.   » Continue Reading

TSYS Acquiring Solutions has announced plans to integrate Discover Network card acceptance into its offering for merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations (ISOs) - offering merchants consolidated servicing, statementing and settlement.   » Continue Reading

The Mobile Marketing Association has announced that it has launched an m-Commerce Committee to develop best practices, standards and other guidelines for mobile-commerce initiatives. The committee will serve as a consortium between wireless carriers and key players in the m-commerce ecosystem, including brands, retailers and media. The committee's goal is to create a framework that provides consumers with a simple, consistent, user-friendly m-commerce experience across the industry.   » Continue Reading

The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA), a non-profit, inter-industry trade association created to advance the success of network branded prepaid cards, has launched its first membership year with twenty-eight members, all leaders in the prepaid card industry. The NBPCA has developed a three-year business plan with specific deliverables for each year, the goal being to materially enhance the business environment for network branded prepaid cards.   » Continue Reading

Joris Evers reports for CNET News.com about the new Banking Identity Safety Scorecard released by Javelin Strategy & Research that suggests Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Washington Mutual do the best job for their customers in preventing, detecting and resolving ID theft

Visa USA has announced the introduction of Visa Signature Business, a new premium business payment card Visa says is "designed to address the business and lifestyle needs of small business owners by delivering valued and relevant benefits, greater purchasing power, and flexible features."   » Continue Reading

• Contactless News: Contactless payments accepted at a dozen baseball stadiums
• MagTek and Sig-Tec Corporation announce Enterprise Level Two Factor Strong Authentication
• Auctionpay Closes $5.5 Million Series B Financing
• Saylent Technologies Announces the Y-Debit Solution; STAR Financial Bank Acquires Y-Debit to Manage Debit Card Programs
• Cyber-Ark Releases First-Ever US Privileged Password Survey
• Valutec’s Gift & Loyalty Card Programs Certified on Hypercom’s Optimum T4100
• U.S. Bank’s Campus Card Program Ranked #1 by CR80News
• GuardID Systems Secures $5 Million Funding From Trinity Ventures
• Utix Group and eFunds Prepaid Solutions Renew Partner Program
• Nova Information Systems certifies RDM SYNERGY payment platform
• Musicane Announces New Viral Storefronts That Work Across All Social Networks, Blogs and Personal Web Sites
• American Banker to Honor Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank with 2006 Banker of the Year Award
• CyberSource Announces Fast Track Payment Security Review
• Mavent Receives $10 Million Commitment Led by FTVentures
• Card Express Offers Prepaid Card Processing Services to ISOs

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• John S. Chen, chairman, CEO and president of Sybase, has been elected to the Wells Fargo & Company Board of Directors.
• Paul Mercer has been named Director of Business Development for Everlink Payment Services in Markham, Ontario.
• John Costello, former Executive Vice President of Merchandising and Marketing for The Home Depot, has been named President, Consumer and Retail at Pay by Touch.
• Jim Conning has been appointed Managing Director of Eiger Systems.