HQ Gift Cards, a division of Stored Value Solutions, has announced the launch of “Gift Card Central” - bringing gift card malls to office workers and residents in 25 of Atlanta’s class A office developments and residential condominium towers. The concept seeks to make gift card-buying even more convenient for busy corporate executives, office workers and luxury condominium residents.

mChek has announced that "ICICI Prudential Life Insurance policyholders can now pay their premiums through their mobile phones, anytime and from anywhere. ICICI Prudential is the first life insurance company in the country to launch this unique service facility for its policyholders."

Arik Hesseldahl reports for Business Week that "VeriFone has quietly expressed interest in buying the assets of Pay By Touch, a biometrics company currently in Chapter 11, according to court filings obtained by BusinessWeek.com."

Visa has introduced a Government ePayments Adoption Ranking (GEAR) that "measures the extent to which governments in 43 countries provide key payment services on electronic platforms." The GEAR study, underwritten by Visa, and conducted independently by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks Canada as the world’s leading nation for government electronic payments (with a score of 92.4 out of 100), because of the government’s comprehensive electronic administration procedures.

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