A colleague recently brought to our attention a Harvard Business School case written about ING Direct. The case (No. 9-804-167), written by James L Heskett, published in April 2004 and revised in May 2005, provides some fascinating insights into the evolution of this major direct online bank. What struck me in reading this case were the many "real world" issues that the US ING Direct management team were struggling with as they "needed to walk a fine line ... in communicating that ING Direct was an entrepreneurial, fast-growing, irreverent organization without going too far in contrasting it with the characteristics of its large, more traditional parent." If you've been interested in ING Direct's success, you'll definitely find this case makes very interesting reading.

PayPal has launched an Online Merchant Network site - "a place to get information, advice from seasoned merchants, and resources to help increase your profits." The Online Merchant Network's mission states "The goal of the OMN is to build an objective, open, and welcoming environment for the exchange of ideas about business. Although the OMN is hosted by PayPal, we encourage and welcome any healthy discussion about all payment providers, both pros and cons. And from time to time PayPal, as well as third-party contributors, will provide content about topics concerning online businesses. In essence, we're building the OMN to help businesses grow - and thrive."

PayPal has announced that it now supports payments in 10 new currencies, allowing customers to send, receive and hold funds in a total of 17 currencies worldwide.   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has announced its first International Prepaid Market Readiness report that is designed to provide an overview of the "state of readiness" for prepaid adoption to assist firms assessing international activity.   » Continue Reading

Finpago has announced the availability of the FSAok Debit Substantiation service including Finpago’s FSAok Real-Time Eligibility Engine. According to the company, these services provide "the industry’s most comprehensive set of tools for generating and documenting consumer driven health care claims automatically and ensuring IRS compliance for the widest possible number of merchant categories. Through WageWorks' Health Care Choice card program, the services provide flexibility and convenience to flexible spending account account holders by automatically selecting prescription and over-the-counter medication purchases and submitting them for reimbursement."   » Continue Reading

Fair Isaac Corporation has announced that it filed a lawsuit yesterday in Federal Court in Minneapolis "alleging that the three national credit reporting agencies and a jointly owned entity have violated antitrust laws and engaged in unfair competitive practices." Fair Isaac alleges that "Equifax Inc., Experian Information Solutions Inc., TransUnion LLC and VantageScore Solutions, LLC, through their launch and marketing of the VantageScore credit scoring model, are jointly engaging in unfair and anti-competitive practices that harm the FICO credit score brand and goodwill that Fair Isaac has spent 50 years creating."   » Continue Reading

Marcy Gordon writes for the Associated Press about yesterday's release by the Government Accountability Office of a study into the fees, interest rates and disclosure practices of 28 popular credit cards. Gordon reports on the findings that consumer disclosures explaining fees have "various weaknesses that reduced consumers' ability to use and understand" them. The GAO found that "the disclosures are written in language that is hard to understand, bury important information in text, fail to put related material together and use small typefaces."

JCB, in cooperation with CCV Holland B.V., Gemalto, KPN, Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, PaySquare, and ViVOtech, has announced that the launch of Mobile J/Speedy, a Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payment pilot project in Amsterdam. Following initial trials in September, the pilot service is now being rolled out to a broader group of JCB's customers. The project marks Europe's first contactless international credit payment scheme using a mobile phone with an NFC chip.   » Continue Reading

Julie Crenshaw writes for Convenience Store Decisions about a study done by Clickin Research for the NACS Coca-Cola Leadership Council into convenience store customer payment preferences. According to Crenshaw, "Payment options help forge retailers' relationships with their customers by making transactions more convenient. Whether closed loop merchant cards good only for gas and in-store purchases or branded, reloadable debit cards good anywhere the brand is displayed, prepaid cards are increasing consumer loyalty and boosting customer visits."

Jane J. Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal about how some banks are making it easier for new customers to convert accounts - including helping make the conversion.

• MiCash Partners With Financing Alternatives, Inc.
• ICBA and Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Join Forces to Offer Compliance University to ICBA Members
• The Home Depot To Contribute Five Percent of Themed Gift Card Sales to Three Nonprofit Organizations
• TransUnion's TrueCredit.com Taps Consumer Sentiment Toward Holiday Financing Offers