The two creators of Near Field Communication technology, NXP Semiconductors and Sony Corporation, have announced plans to establish by mid-year 2007 a new joint venture (JV) that will drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones. According to the two companies, "the anticipated JV will plan, develop, produce and market a secure chip that will include both MIFARE and FeliCa operating systems and applications, as well as other contactless card operating systems and applications."

Every once and a while, an opportunity comes along to learn some really interesting things about the credit card business. Last Friday Target held a two hour meeting with the financial community reviewing its credit card operations. A webcast of the event is available online. The management presentations last about 40 minutes - listening is highly recommended if you're interested in how this major retailer has integrated its credit card business into its overall relationship strategy. At one point while discussing a slide showing the evolution of tender types at Target over the last ten years, Target's CFO Doug Scovanner describes what he calls "corrosive" economics related to the impact credit card fees have had on retailers.

Chris Dean writes for the UK's Retail Bulletin about the implementation of Chip and PIN in the UK - and what's happening to card fraud as a result - saying "rather than reducing fraud in total, identity fraudsters have simply shifted their activity to areas that Chip and PIN does not protect."

The Electronic Funds Transfer Association has announced the results of a survey on government payment technology that it says "provides mixed reviews on how quickly government is adopting prepaid debit technology to pay its citizens. The survey of over 1,000 government agency managers shows that the use of debit cards is prevalent in a few types of payments, but that states and local governments continue to use checks for many other disbursements."

TowerGroup says it "expects gift cards to be a major hit again this holiday season. Combined gift card sales in the U.S. will exceed US$80 billion in 2006 -- a more than 20% increase over their 2005 level -- with the breakdown by segment as follows: Retail, $29 billion; Restaurant / Fast Food, $18 billion; Miscellaneous (gas, services, etc.), $12 billion, Universally accepted (i.e., bank-issued), $23 billion." TowerGroup notes that the unused value on these cards, often referred to as "breakage" in the payments industry, has a bigger impact on consumers than the combined total of both debit and credit card fraud.

MasterCard's Holiday Shopping Insights report "found that nearly three out of four consumers (74 percent) think Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest time for holiday shopping. However, information from billions of payment card transactions over the past several years indicates that it is unlikely to be the case. Last year, for example, "Black Friday" did not even rank in the top five busiest holiday shopping days, while the Sunday following Thanksgiving has been the least busy day of the holiday shopping season for the past two years."

Shop.org reports that Cyber Monday, the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season, will likely be even bigger this year as retailers target at-work shoppers with lunch hour promotions and special savings.

The European Central Bank has published a progress report entitled “The Eurosystem’s View of a “SEPA for Cards” (PDF). "In this report, the Governing Council of the ECB provides its views on some critical issues concerning the migration of card schemes to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), and at the same time alerts the market to some developments which could be suboptimal for European citizens."

Consumers Union says it is "warning shoppers about the increasing number of credit card traps that can trip up consumers and lead to spiraling debt. To help get out the message and mobilize support for reform, the group is releasing "It's Always Christmas Time (For VISA)," an animated satire that takes aim at abusive credit card fees and practices."

A friend writes to tell us about his recent shopping experience on Overstock.com - where he says Bill Me Later was the default payment option for his purchase. He described the whole process and amazing straightforward and simple - once logged into Overstock, he was able to buy and charge to Bill Me Later very quickly. We've also been noticing the increased presence of Bill Me Later as a payment option at more and more online merchants.

CyberSource has announced that it has predicted that December 18th will be the biggest online shopping day of 2006. The estimate is based on the company's analysis of six years of historical transaction volumes and the number of shipping days remaining before December 25th.

Ellen Cannon reports for Bankrate.com on their third annual Gift Card Study. "Bankrate reviewed 38 plastic cards and seven electronic cards from the nation's leading 25 retailers (as ranked by the National Retail Foundation) and the four top credit card issuers. The study examines expiration dates, fees, state regulation guidelines and dormancy policies associated with gift card purchases. Bankrate's survey also includes information on the latest trends in gift cards, such as personalization and Web sites where unwanted cards can be bought, sold or traded." A handy comparison chart of all of the gift cards included in the survey is also available online.

Discover Card has released its first "Holiday Shopping Survey, assessing consumers’ spending trends and patterns for the 2006 holiday season. The findings show that a majority of shoppers plan to spend up to $500 this holiday season and one in four intends to spend from $500 to $1,000."

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Scott Coates has been named to lead product management and marketing communication for TransUnion's Canadian operations. Before TransUnion, Coates was manager of marketing strategy and analysis for Lexmark Canada Inc.'s consumer printer division.
• Robert McCabe Jr. has been named Chairman of the Board of Goldleaf Financial Solutions.

Kathy Chu writes for USA Today that "eight of the nation's 10 largest banks — Citigroup, Bank of America, Chase, Wachovia, Wells Fargo , HSBC, U.S. Bank and SunTrust — typically pay checks that arrive on the same day from the largest to smallest dollar amount." Chu reports that these banks also do the same with electronic transactions and points out that this practice helps to maximize the number of potential overdrafts (and associated bank fees).

Experian Consumer Direct has announced the results of a recent National Score Index study showing a 16.9 percent decline from 2001 to 2006 in the rate at which consumers are opening new credit accounts and a 12.6 percent rate at which late payments of 90 days or more are increasing. The national average credit score is 675 -- 7 points lower from 2001 when it was 682.

• Pittsburgh Pirates introduce new gift cards
• Ticketmaster Launches Gift Cards
• SecureCard Technologies, Inc. Announces Innovative Secure Credit Card to Eliminate Fraud
• GoDaddy.com: This Isn't Your Grandma's Gift Card
• Computerworld: Retail Breach Forces Banks to Cancel Cards - Data compromise in Michigan results in fraudulent credit, debit transactions
• PayPal moves staff to Scottsdale today
• Retail Decisions Selects GoldenGate Software for Increased Availability of Critical Fraud Prevention Systems
• Canada: Tangarine Launches Gift Card Program
• iPay Technologies Expands Reach of Business Bill Pay Product