Kate Norton reports for Business Week Europe on contactless forms of mobile commerce around the world. "Consultancy Strategy Analytics, in Milton Keynes, England, forecasts that mobile-phone-based contactless payments will account for more than $36 billion in consumer spending by 2011, up from $900 million now. The bulk of that should be in Asia."

In two commentary articles yesterday and today, the Motley Fool's Emil Lee has been exploring Wal-Mart's banking plans - its request to form an industrial loan corporation in Utah. In the second article, he challenges the banking industry - most of whom are opposing Wal-Mart's plans - saying that if banks "can't fend off a company that makes its living selling underwear and soap at cheap prices, then perhaps those banks aren't providing customers with enough value."

The Bank for International Settlements has published its 2005 summary of Statistics On Payment And Settlement Systems In Selected Countries (PDF).

Visa USA reports on a holiday spending survey that concludes "men actually report spending more on gifts and entertaining over the holiday season" - with men saying they plan to spend an average of $1,288 for the holidays which is over a hundred dollars more than women who report spending $1,186.

The BBC reports on how mobile operators are working to make mobile phones equipped with NFC become smart wallets. "A mobile equipped with NFC technology could, for example, buy a concert ticket over the phone which would then hold those details, together with the details of the phone user, on the tag inside the handset."

Esther Dyson posts a photo of a fruit juice vending machine in Poland that accepts mobile payments provided by MPay. She describes the process - including how the system responds with an offer for a quick discount on chips from the other vending machine to your left.

According to The Conference Board, U.S. households are expected to spend an average of $449 on gifts during the holiday season, down moderately from last year's estimate of $466.

Google Checkout has announced that it will be launching a holiday site on Monday, November 27, 2006. According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by Google Checkout, 40% of employed U.S. adults say they'll be doing at least some of their online holiday shopping from work this year, with 1 in 4 of those shoppers logging on to track down that perfect gift on Monday, November 27. (57% plan to shop during coffee and lunch breaks, while 34% will wait until the end of the workday.)

Boston Main Streets, a public-private initiative established by the City of Boston, has announced a new card-based social commerce initiative designed to reward customers and the community when consumers shop at participating local Boston merchants.

Bruce Schneier blogs about a recent paper by Omer Berkman and Odelia Moshe Ostrovsky titled "The Unbearable Lightness of PIN Cracking" (PDF) saying "basically, the paper describes an inherent flaw with the way ATM PINs are encrypted and transmitted on the international financial networks, making them vulnerable to attack from malicious insiders in a bank."

US Bank has announced that it is beginning a pilot of contactless cards in Denver - saying that "a group of U.S. Bank customers in the Denver area will soon be able to use a new “contactless” feature with their U.S. Bank Visa Credit Cards that allows them to quickly pay for purchases by holding their card in very close proximity to a secure reader at checkout instead of swiping it or handing it to a cashier."

According to a new survey conducted by Braun Research and Bank of America, consumers spend an average of four hours and 35 minutes shopping at retail stores during the holiday season. Nearly one-third (one
hour and 22 minutes) of that time is reportedly spent waiting in checkout lines. One way to "lose wait" this year is to shop online. Another way is to bank online. In fact, nine out of ten (88%) Internet bankers surveyed said doing so helps them save time during the holidays.

• San Francisco Business Times: Visa plans layoffs as it prepares for life as public company
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• Thriftway Supermarket Completes Milestone Upgrade to Pay By Touch System With IBM ACE Integration
• Ecora Offers Free IT Compliance Assessments to Help Merchants Comply With New PCI DSS 1.1 Standards
• Megasys Hospitality Systems Partners With Shift4 for a Gateway to New Technologies
• Credit.com Launches ``Credit Score Compass'' to Help Consumers Navigate Complex Financial Landscape
• TSYS Forms Managed-Services Joint Venture with Dimension Data
• Largest South African Banking Group Goes Live with Fortent's Anti-Money Laundering System
• Quova and 192.com Business Services Partner for E-Commerce Fraud Prevention and iGaming Compliance