The National Retail Federation has announced it is urging state legislators to "continue efforts to control $36 billion in credit card interchange fees paid by consumers each year, saying state legislation will help focus public attention on the little-known charges."

Forrester's Michelle de Lussanet has written a new report titled "Person-To-Person Payment Goes Mobile - But P2P Mobile Payment Is A Technology In Search Of A Market". From the abstract: "A number of firms in Western Europe have recently launched payment systems that allow consumers to make person-to-person payments using their mobile phones. Executives at other payment system operators, mobile operators, and banks need not rush to follow suit. We are not convinced that there is a large market for these new systems: Currently P2P supports only well-defined, narrow payment scenarios like mobile airtime prepay top-up of another person's prepay account. Instead, P2P payments are likely to become just one feature within broader mobile banking and mobile payment services."

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published a new working paper by Eugene Amromin and Sujit Chakravorti titled "Debit Card and Cash Usage: A Cross-Country Analysis" (PDF). From the abstract: "During the last decade, debit card transactions grew rapidly in most advanced countries. While check usage declined and has almost disappeared in some countries, the stock of currency in circulation has not declined as fast. We use panel estimation techniques to analyze the change in transactional demand for cash resulting from greater usage of debit cards in 13 countries from 1988 to 2003."

Wells Fargo has announced that it is "the first U.S. financial institution to make clean, renewable energy reward options available to its cardholders. Through Wells Fargo Rewards programs, consumer and business credit card and check card customers can now redeem reward points to support renewable energy projects and receive certificates for their donations."

Glenbrook's Jim Salters was at NACHA's Payments 2007 conference earlier this week. Jim filed the following report from the conference.

Postilion, a division of S1 Corporation, has announced an alliance naming Metavante Corporation a strategic provider of electronic presentment and payment (EPP) services. Under the agreement, Postilion and Metavante will deliver an integrated self-service banking solution featuring expanded bill payment capabilities and an e-banking customer experience for financial institutions and their customers in the Americas.

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• TSYS Acquiring Solutions Signs Agreement with The Bancorp Bank
• Banks Endorse Measures to Enhance Transparency in International Payments
• Wachovia Announces Organizational Changes to Support Customer-Focused Growth Strategy
• Experian Group Limited: Acquisition of Hitwise
• Authorize.Net Announces eCheck.Net(R) Pre-Approval Program
• Cyphermint Partners With Fidelity Express to Launch Mobile Bill Payments