As part of our preparation for Glenbrook's next Payments Boot Camp (being held in Atlanta March 13-14), we've been doing a update to our mobile banking and payments module - including adding a deeper dive into Visa's new Mobile Platform initiative.

Edgar, Dunn & Company and Mobile Payments World have announced the results of the 2007 Mobile Financial Services Study (PDF) they conducted into attitudes about mobile financial services - including mobile banking and mobile payments. Almost 500 individuals participated in the survey producing some most interesting results.

Meena Thiruvengadam writes for the San Antonio Express-News about the merger announced in December of M&F Worldwide Corp., the parent company of San Antonio-based Clarke American, the nation's No. 3 check printer, with Atlanta-based John H. Harland Co., the country's No. 2 check printer, to become the largest check printing company in the US - larger than long-time No. 1 Deluxe Corp. The merger is still awaiting regulatory approvals.

Brian Mark asks himself what is it that Google is getting out of offering Checkout for free - and proceeds to answer his own question by realizing that, as people register to participate in Checkout, Google then "actually knows where those people live. That’s right, your credit card billing address gets verified when you add it as a payment option. So now they know where you live, which helps them better target local search results and really tailor personalized search for you."

In an article titled ING Direct Makes Checking (Almost) Fun Again, NetBanker's Jim Bruene reviews in detail the cool features of ING Direct's Electric Orange checking account - and critiques their decision to not provide an in-hand paper check option for customers and suggests they need to get with it and offer remote deposit capture capability as well.