We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Tom Donlea thas been named Executive Director of the Merchant Risk Council. Donlea will be located at a new office at 325 N. 125th Street, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98133. Donlea comes to the MRC with over 15 years of non-profit management experience. He spent the last four years as Executive Director of Social Venture Partners International, a network of 23 venture philanthropy organizations across North America.

Visa USA has announced that it "will be the first organization to adopt a new industry standard list designed to clearly identify items sold over the counter that qualify as an eligible medical expense for health benefit accounts. The comprehensive list, developed by the Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA), will be available to merchants who have implemented Visa’s patent-pending auto-substantiation enhancement, which allows for real-time substantiation of qualified, medical expense purchases made with a Visa employee benefit debit card."   » Continue Reading

Symantec and VeriSign have announced plans to deliver "security solutions to combat the growing threat of consumer identity theft and fraud on the Internet." Symantec plans to offer support for the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Authentication Service, which allows consumers to utilize one-time passwords to protect their online identity.   » Continue Reading

I4 Commerce, a provider of payment and marketing technology solutions for multichannel retailers, has announced that Brookstone is now offering customers the option to buy now and pay later with Bill Me Later. Part of I4 Commerce's PayCapture suite, Bill Me Later is a fast, convenient and secure way for Brookstone customers to pay for purchases without providing credit card information.   » Continue Reading

Verid has announced a major new version of its Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) platform that helps businesses quickly authenticate consumers through a series of personalized questions unique to that individual. According to Verid, "businesses are rapidly moving away from using social security numbers to identify customers and recognizing that a pet's name may not be the best way to protect financial or other accounts."   » Continue Reading

First Data Corp. has recently revamped its corporate web site - following the recent spin-off of Western Union and the launch of "the new First Data". Sporting a much cleaner "look and feel", the new web site is organized around both the business and industry of the reader as well as by the product and service solutions that FDC offers. Readers can easily choose either view. The site also offers to answer questions about FDC's products and services within one business day. First Data continues to make its news available via both email alerts and an RSS feed for readers who'd prefer to receive updates directly.

Bloomberg reports on Experian's spin-off from GUS plc as the company has completed selling initial shares in London as a newly independent, publicly-traded company.

The Payment System Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia has issues its Annual Report for 2006. Topics include Trends in the Australian Payments System (PDF), Reform of Card Payment Systems (PDF), and Payment Systems Technology and Architecture (PDF).

Kathy Chu reports for USA Today on the increasing tendency by consumers to use cards to pay for small ticket purchases - helped along by changes by the card associations (such as not requiring signature) that help streamline the use of cards for both consumers and merchants. Chu quotes Visa's Elizabeth Buse who says "not having to sign is a huge convenience for consumers and a critical element" of the growth of small-dollar purchases on credit cards.

• MasterCard Survey Reveals Keys to Success of Women-Owned Small Businesses
• Green Dot Selects Vormetric to Secure Customer Data and Support Compliance Standards
• American Express and Starwood Hotels Launch New Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Business Credit Card for Small Business Owners and the Enhanced Starwood Preferred Guest (R) Credit Card for Consumers
• Payment Processing, Inc. Offers a Comprehensive Set of Credit Card Data Security Services for Software Developers
• BB&T to offer health savings accounts
• TowerGroup: Business Clients and Banks are Dissatisfied with Current Technology Integration Capabilities
• MyBizHomepage Launches Free Online Financial Dashboard That Lets Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Easily Track Critical Financial Information
• Scottrade Launches Money Direct Powered by Yodlee
• Source Technologies’ Self-Service Bill Pay Wins ''Best Financial Kiosk'' Accolades
• Aruba Bank Secures Retail Customers with VASCO's Digipass 260
• S1 Supports EPN STP 820 Remittance Standard
• Washington Post: 'Liberty Dollars' Can Buy Users A Prison Term, U.S. Mint Warns
• China UnionPay Plans To Expand Online Banking System To Internet
• BankServ Announces New Service to Send Fedwire, ACH Transactions Through SWIFT
• Microsoft Presents a Vision of Automated Corporate-to-Bank Financial Messaging at Sibos 2006