PAYMENTS 2008, NACHA's annual conference, will be held May 18-21, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. A "showcase event for the electronic payments industry", the 2008 edition will include new environmental meeting practices that will also provide benefits for the attendee, the association, and the community.

Dave Birch has announced that the 11th annual Digital Money Forum will be held in London on 23rd/24th April 2008.

MasterCard has announced the launch of a prepaid reloadable travel card with travel industry data and financial solution provider Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC). The MasterCard Travel Card, which is available through ARC's network of more than 20,000 U.S. travel agent locations, features MasterCard PayPass contactless functionality in addition to the traditional magnetic stripe. MasterCard says "it is the first prepaid travel card offering in the U.S. to be equipped with contactless technology, a sign of the continued advancement of the category in the face of increased cardholder demand."

David Kesmodel reports for the Wall St. Journal on Safeway's Blackhawk Network subsidiary and its CEO Don Kingsborough. According to Kesmodel, "Safeway barely spoke about Blackhawk, founded in 2002, until last winter, when it divulged some financial projections to investors. The company nurtured the business quietly, in part to limit competition."

Kelly Hill of RCR Wireless News interviews Tripp Rackley, CEO of Firethorn Holdings (being acquired by Qualcomm). "In 2008, Rackley said he expects to see more movement in what he calls the “alternative payments” space, including gift cards and money transfers, including international remittances. Also, he expects to see financial institutions making “mass decisions” in those areas, as well as laying out tactical objectives for their involvement in the mobile space."

Aite Group has released a new report titled "Mobile Banking, Payments and Commerce: What Mobile Operators Really Think" that "gauges mobile operators' current perceptions about mobile transactions. It aims to define what mobile operators really think about the evolution of mobile phones to provide banking and payment functionalities. Perhaps more significantly, it examines how mobile operators expect to generate revenues from these functionalities."

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