The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has published its Annual Report (PDF) covering its activities for 2006 and 2007. The report devotes a full chapter to the Card Payments Systems - noting that "much of the Board’s effort has been devoted to improving efficiency and competition in Australia’s retail payments system, particularly the card-based systems" and, especially, interchange fees.

Archstone Consulting has announced the results of its 2007 Holiday Gift Card Survey examining the shopping habits of more than 1,000 web users across various age groups, gender and region. Based on the survey results, Archstone projects gift card purchases reaching an all-time high at $35 Billion this holiday season, compared to last year’s actual spending figure of $27.8 Billion, a 25 percent increase year-over-year.

Diamond Management & Technology Consultants has announced a new white paper titled "Mobile Payments: Mobile Operator Market Opportunities and Business Models" that suggests that, "while the growing multi-functionality of mobile phones could present an opportunity to substitute the ubiquitous wallet with a digital alternative, wireless operators face real challenges in deciding how they will generate new revenue in a mobile payments ecosystem that could be dominated by financial services firms."

Calling itself "the freshest, most intelligent way for you to manage your money online.", Mint.com, a new web-based approach to personal financial management, has officially launched. Mint says it "automatically pulls together the user’s bank, credit union and credit card data, and provides up-to-date and amazingly accurate views of his or her !nancial life - from the big picture to speci!c details, in a friendly and intuitive user interface."

Moneta, a new online financial services company, has announced a new alternative to current forms of online payment that enables consumers to "make online payments directly from their checking or money market accounts using only a secure four-digit PIN." The company says that "merchants pay fees up to 50 percent below those charged by credit card companies and other online payment options." On its web site, Moneta lists Aloha Airlines, TigerDirect.com, Shoebuy.com, and AirTran Airways as participating merchants.

Wells Fargo has announced "the latest addition to its mobile banking services, Wells Fargo Mobile for small businesses, a browser-based solution that gives small business owners nationwide access to their business and personal financial information at anytime, from anywhere."

TransUnion has announced that effective October 15, 2007, it will offer what it its calling "the credit reporting industry's first complete file freeze solution" - providing U.S. consumers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia with the ability to freeze their credit files, should they feel that step is warranted.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published two working papers related to patents and financial services. The first is titled "Business Method Patents for U.S. Financial Services" (PDF) by Robert M. Hunt and the second is titled "Intellectual Property Rights and Standard Setting in Financial Services: The Case of the Single European Payments Area" (PDF) by Robert M. Hunt, Samuli Simojoki, and Tuomas Takalo.

• ATMs Offering Prepaid Gift Cards Debut in Phoenix
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• SCHUFA and Fair Isaac Partner to Help German Financial Institutions Turn Analytics into Competitive Advantage
• TransUnion's TrueCredit.com Announces Industry's First Instant Credit Lock
• As Shoppers Become More Web-Savvy, Online Retailers Up the Ante, According to Shop.org and Forrester Research
• Visa Launches New Multimedia Advertising Campaign Featuring Unique Merchant Offers
• Canada's Financial Post: Canadian banks battling U.S. company over cheque-clearing patent
• New White Paper Identifies Top Five Trends Impacting Cash Flow Forecasting