Broox Peterson shares some of his thoughts in a commentary reflecting on Capital One's recent introduction of a new "decoupled debit" card program.

We met recently with Alex Rampell, CEO of TrialPay, a Mountain View, California-based company that provides merchants with a new payment method that allows customers to pay for products by trying or buying from a network of advertisers.

The Bancorp has announced "an agreement with BankFirst, a South Dakota banking corporation, to acquire its "Stored Value Solutions" ("SVS") business. SVS is a leader in the stored value card industry, also known as the prepaid card industry, with more than 3.7 million prepaid cards issued at June 30, 2007."

The Economist profiles Nick Ogden and his company VoicePay, a provider of voice authentication-based mobile payments.

Tempo Payments made two announcements this morning. The first, a "Decoupled Debit Option for Financial Institutions" that "enables financial institutions and other issuers to rapidly deploy comprehensive ACH-based debit card programs." The second, the "availability of the Tempo Payment Platform, the first hosted solution that enables financial institutions and other issuers to rapidly deploy innovative card payment solutions."

Anne Kate Smith interviews James Scurlock, author of Maxed Out, for Kiplinger.com. Turns out he started out wanting to make a movie about why Americans are so overweight - but then changed to "the other addiction we all have: debt".

PAYjr has announced a prepaid card for teens that allows them to "upload pictures for the design of their card."

Wells Fargo has announced that "Wells Fargo ExpressSend customers with qualifying accounts now can have transaction fees discounted or waived and have more choices in how they remit money to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, China, Vietnam, India and the Philippines."

• Electronic Clearing House (ECHO) Enters into Technology Partnership Agreement with Professional Solutions to Consolidate Childcare Payment Processing Services
• Strategy Analytics: Mobile Commerce Inferior to Fixed Internet Experience
• Pemco Technologies and Alaska Option Form Strategic Alliance
• Bank of Stockton Now Connected to SVPCO Image Payments Network
• Hypercom Earns EMV Level 1 & 2 Certifications for New Optimum T4200 Product Family
• First Data's New Analytics Solution Takes off at Pentagroup
• MasterCard shares have surged since IPO
• WSJ: Expanding Banks Bemoan Lack of Qualified Tellers
• SmartPay Obtains Chinese Information Security Certification
• Retail Decisions Expands Footprint in Travel Industry: Opodo Selects Retail Decisions for Fraud Prevention
• Chase Paymentech Provides Tim Hortons Enhanced Speed and Convenience with Point of Sale Payment Acceptance

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Dr. Scott Guthery has been named System Architect at HID Global.
  
• Adam Chibib has been named Chief Financial Officer and Steve Reesing has been named Senior VP of Corporate Development and Finance at NetSpend Corporation.