Visa's Latin America and Caribbean Region has announced that online ecommerce purchases using Visa-branded products in the region grew to 55 million transactions valued at US$3.3 billion in sales volume during 2006, representing a 58 percent year-over-year growth.

The Merchant Risk Council has announced the results of its annual merchant fraud survey. According to the MRC, "this year’s survey was sponsored by CyberSource Corporation as part of its broader annual survey of online fraud. The combined results show MRC Platinum merchants setting the pace for the eCommerce industry in controlling fraud and protecting valid customer orders. The Platinum merchants are 110 of the largest online sellers in the U.S. who share fraud trends and best practices through MRC committees and conferences."

Javelin Strategy & Research has published a new report titled "Expedited Bill Payments Forecast 2007 to 2009: Effective Strategies to Create Revenue and Enhance Relationships" (Preview PDF) that examines the future of expedited bill payments—services that enable consumers to make last minute bill payments—and how they represent a viable revenue opportunity for billers and financial institutions.

Citi has announced it is "eliminating the industry practice of increasing interest rates for individual cardholders due to their defaults on financial commitments with other parties, sometimes known as "universal default". Until now, Citi has given customers the right to opt out of any such increase. But with this announcement, Citi is going even further, abandoning the practice altogether for all customers."

Capital One is holding its annual investor conference today. A webcast is available along with copies of the presentation materials. Of particular interest is the Strategy presentation.

Seth Fox writes for the Baton Rouge Business Report about merchant frustrations with the costs of credit card acceptance. Fox quotes one merchant who says "cards are able to offer 1% cash back and other perks to their customers for one simple reason - that money is coming straight from the coffers of businesses where the transactions take place." Another tells her staff at monthly meetings to try to steer customers to using their PIN debit cards.

The Research Department and the Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia have issued a call for papers for their fourth joint conference on consumer credit payments (PDF). The submission deadline for papers is June 15, 2007. The conference itself will be held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on September 20-21, 2007.

Stephen Lawson writes for InfoWorld Netherlands about Nokia and Giesecke & Devrient's joint venture company, Venyon Oy, based in Helsinki with offices in Munich, Dallas and Singapore. According to Lawson, "the mobile phone payments Venyon wants to facilitate are based on NFC (near-field communication), which uses an RFID (radio-frequency identification) chip and antenna to exchange information with a payment station from a range of a few centimeters."

Tux Turkel writes for the Portland (ME) Press Herald about TD North's reissuing up to 200,000 debit cards following the data breach at TJX last month. "Banks are very unhappy about the TJX Cos. security breach. Joe Pietroski, who represents commercial banks as president of the Maine Bankers Association, said it costs between $12 and $22 to replace each debit card, including the cost of notification."

The Payments Card Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a white paper titled "Prepaid Cards: Vulnerable to Money Laundering?" (PDF). From the introduction: "Over the past year, several government agencies have issued reports describing threats to the U.S. financial system, including the use of prepaid cards by money launderers. This paper discusses the potential money laundering threat that prepaid cards face as they enter the mainstream of consumer payments. It provides an overview of money laundering, describes how prepaid cards could be abused, and outlines how both the government and the payment sectors have responded to mitigate risks."

MasterCard Worldwide and Wakefern Food Corporation, the merchandising and distribution arm of ShopRite supermarkets, have announced it has begun accepting MasterCard PayPass contactless payments at over 200 ShopRite locations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware. This rollout constitutes the largest deployment of PayPass in the supermarket category to date.

The Philadelphia Daily News profiles Ecount founders Matt Gillin and Paul Raden and their investors. "Gillin is sanguine when he talks about the Citi acquisition. 'Honestly, we always knew that we would get here someday, so I'm somewhat reserved about it. What's really the coolest part is all the people who contributed along the way.'"

• Mobile Payment Forum Holds Spring Meeting March 13-14 in San Diego
• Hitachi Consulting Dove Division Initiates Payments Compliance Practice
• First Data International Opens New Office in Poland
• Fair Isaac Partners with Aconite to Deliver More Powerful Fraud-Fighting Capabilities
• iPay and Bradford-Scott Offer Bill Payment to Credit Unions