Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report concluding that "Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) represent a paradox for banking and payment leaders: Banks cannot overlook the long-term opportunities for asset growth, yet must plan to address problematic consumer awareness and interest along with other thorny healthcare industry issues."

Earlier this week, we announced that we'd implemented a new, customized search engine here on Payments News - taking advantage of a feature that Google announced on Monday. What's unique about this search engine is that we can provide it with a list of sites that should be searched - rather than searching the whole World Wide Web. For payments professionals, the search results from the Payments News Search Engine are much more likely to be results of interest vs. a standard Google search. We've further enhanced the list of sites searched this morning - with the list now totaling about 80 payments-related sites. You may want to bookmark our search page if you find it useful.

The US Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Secret Service issued their third collaborative report (PDF) on the use and counterfeiting of U.S. currency abroad - concluding that, of U.S. notes in circulation abroad and at home, about one note in 10,000 is counterfeit. The report estimated that about $450 billion of the $760 billion in circulation as of December 2005 is held abroad. According to the report, "Colombia registers first on the counterfeiting threat list because it has been the chief supplier of counterfeit notes to the U.S. market. ... During FY 2005, approximately 15 percent ($8 million out of a total of $56.2 million) of all counterfeit currency passed within the United States originated in Colombia."

Target has announced the launch of a Prepaid Photo Card that allow purchasers to save up to 20 percent on photofinishing services.

Wells Fargo has announced that the number of deposits its business customers have made via the Internet -- eliminating the need for physical deposit of paper checks at the bank (called "remote deposit capture" in the banking industry -- nearly doubled in the past three months. This paper-less process was made legal by the "Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act" signed into law two years ago.

Bank of America and Caremark Rx have announced the launch of a new Caremark Visa credit card program that offers cardholders a rewards program for making beneficial decisions related to their use of prescription medications, including choosing generic and preferred drugs.

The October issue of Smart Card Talk, a publication of the Smart Card Alliance, is now available. This issue features an interview with Mohammed Khan, President and Founder of ViVOtech along with a look at Transit and Contactless Financial Payments.

Coinstar has announced a new Coinstar Direct Coin Deposit service that will allow bank and credit union customers to electronically transfer coin into their personal accounts. In addition, Coinstar’s making available a new "Madison" coin-counting kiosk specifically designed for retail financial institution branches.

Glenbrook's Linda Elliott has been following the banking industry's efforts to comply with the FFIEC Internet Banking Guidance issued almost a year ago. We first posted her summary of bank strategies last September. Now, Linda provides an update on what the industry has been doing since then:

We've updated our earlier chart on announced FFIEC Compliance actions. We are now beginning to see more varied approaches to the dual-factor authentication challenge. Biometrics is being rolled out at some smaller institutions, such as Credit Unions. Today, Verisign and Northern Trust announced use of the Verisign network approach to risk-based authentication. While the field of announced solutions is more varied than before, the large security firms still seem to be announcing more 'wins' with larger companies.

HP has announced that it is offering PayPal as a payment option at the HP Home & Home Office Store.

• Ecount, the Prepaid Experts, Ranked Number 388 Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte's 2006 Technology Fast 500
  
• BBC: Colombia 'is fake banknote king'
  
• Prepaid Plays Pivotal Role in Trial of New MasterCard(R) PayPass(TM) Wristband