Citi Cards and Firethorn Holdings, a Qualcomm company, have announced a 'strategic relationship to enable Citi credit cardmembers to easily and securely access real-time account information anytime, anywhere on their wireless handsets. The new service is expected to be available to Citi credit card customers across the U.S. by the third quarter this year.'

In an article titled 'Making Appointments for Doctor or Dinner', Bob Tedeschi writes for his weekly E-Commerce Report in the New York Times about new services that enable small businesses and service providers to allow customers to schedule their services online. HourTown, one of the new breed of online calendar services that Tedeschi discusses in his article, was started by a good friend of ours, Ryan Donahue.

Students of the US regulatory structure as it relates to financial services will find the Department of the Treasury's just released Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Structure of interest. The document contains the history of the current regime along with recommendations for a wide ranging set of changes to better accommodate the current realities and future prospects. The Blueprint was introduced earlier today in a speech by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

The March 2008 edition of the First Annapolis Navigator is now available. This month's feature article is 'Acquirer Portfolio Mix and Growth Performance in a Recession.' Other articles include: 'Leaving a Paper Trail – The Changing Landscape in Commercial Payments', 'Movement from Mobile Banking Towards Mobile Payments', and 'Spain: European Banks Make In-Roads with Credit Cards'. You must register with First Annapolis to request the Navigator.

CompUSA has announced that it is now accepting PayPal as a way to pay for purchases made on the CompUSA.com website. "CompUSA is the latest in the Systemax family of brands to offer PayPal. PayPal is currently accepted in North America at TigerDirect.com, TigerDirect.ca and now CompUSA." More from Mary Anne Gillespie on The PayPal Blog.

Sara Silver reports for the Wall St. Journal on plans by Western Union, RadioShack, and Affinity Mobile's Trumpet Mobile to introduce a new service that 'lets people send money through their cellphones.' Silver says that 'to use the service, people will have to go to one of RadioShack's more than 4,000 stores and sign up for a Trumpet pre-paid phone - a cellphone where customers pay in advance for minutes to be used over a fixed period of time. Customers can then load up to $200 onto their phones for transfer via Western Union's network either within the U.S. or internationally.' Earlier this month, Kimberly Johnson reported on Affinity Mobile for the Denver Post.

Nearly 90 percent of Americans say they feel safe online despite the rising tide of spyware, phishing and other badware threatening Internet users, according to a new poll sponsored by StopBadware.org, a consumer protection initiative aimed at combating dangerous software.

The MIT Media Laboratory and Bank of America have announced 'the creation of the Center for Future Banking, a five-year collaboration to which Bank of America has committed $3-5 million annually. The new research center, which will be located at the Media Lab on the MIT campus, will serve as an innovation engine that will seek to transform the ways banking will be conducted in a world of rapidly changing social, economic, and information landscapes.'

Bank of America has announced the availability of MLB banking - described as 'an exclusive new suite of personal banking products for fans of all 30 Major League Baseball Clubs. MLB banking is the only nationwide portfolio of Club-specific checks, MasterCard check cards and credit cards that are complemented by special rewards for fans of America's National Pastime.'

In a press release this morning, Shell said 'don't be surprised if you see drivers smiling as they fill up at Shell-branded gasoline stations this summer. They'll likely be taking advantage of an "Earn 25 Cents per Gallon" second quarter promotion designed to reward new Shell Gasoline Card consumer account holders for their gasoline purchases.'

Vindicia, has announced that it has added a fraud screening module to its integrated billing and fraud management offerings, Vindicia CashBox and Vindicia ChargeGuard, that 'enables online merchants to adopt sophisticated commerce models to build revenue, and optimize their false positive and customer acquisition rates while continuing to prudently manage occurrences of true fraud.'

Vikram Pandit, Citi's Chief Executive Officer, has announced what Citi is calling 'a comprehensive reorganization of Citi's structure to achieve greater client focus and connectivity, global product excellence, and clear accountability.' Citi has reorganized its consumer group into two global businesses – Consumer Banking and Global Cards. Teresa A. 'Terri' Dial has been named Global Head of Consumer Strategy and CEO of Consumer Banking in North America. Citi has also consolidated its United States and international credit card businesses into a single global business led by Steven Freiberg, CEO of Global Cards.

Dave Birch writes on the Digital Money Forum blog about what he's learning about business cases for NFC. Dave says that "retail e-payment strategy is, in the long run, mobile payment strategy which is, in the short run, contactless payment strategy."

The New Yorker's regular financial columnist, James Surowiecki, writes this week about the US bankruptcy laws - suggesting that the changes to US consumer bankruptcy law made in 2005 'ended up making the economy less dynamic and less flexible.' Surowiecki mentions a recent paper by John Armour and Douglas Cumming that 'found a close correlation between the nature of a country’s bankruptcy laws and its rate of self-employment.'

Chockstone has announced SingleSwipe, calling it 'a new identification program that allows credit and debit card companies and merchants to tie merchant loyalty programs to a customer's existing credit or debit card.'

Robin Sidel reports for the Wall St. Journal on American Express' plans to discontinue its 'Express Pay' contactless keyfob. An Amex spokesman says that they've found their customers prefer to use contactless in the traditional card form factor, not in a keyfob.

• CardWorks Named Servicer of Choice for Innovative Credit Card for Healthcare Services
• Federal Reserve Banks Announce Restructuring Schedule Changes As Electronic Check Processing Continues to Accelerate
• New Survey Reveals Coupons and Discounts Drive Consumer Spending During Economic Recession
• Don’t Be a Fool on April 1: Honor Your Admin with Premiere Gift Cards from the Hilton HHonors® Rewards Store
• Myriad Systems Inc (MSI) Announces Complete Check Processing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Solution Suite
• Vindicia Raises $5.6 Million in Series C Financing From Leader Ventures and DCM
• TradeKing(TM) Adds Financial Services Luminary Henry 'Ric' Duques to Board of Directors
• TSYS Loyalty gets new president: Rod Boyer
• Payment Plus Introduced at U.S. Bank Conference
• New TowerGroup Survey Commissioned by Fair Isaac to Provide Insight into Decision Management Practices of Major Card Issuers and Consumer Lenders
• Innovative Card Technologies Announces 11 Deployments of ICT DisplayCard
• Ponemon Institute Unveils Second Annual Study on Enterprise Encryption Trends

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Sara Petty has been named vice president of strategic development and Donna Rehtmeyer has been named director of new client partnerships - both at The Members Group. Petty previously was vice president with Bank of the West and First Data Resources where she led portfolio management of Bank of the West's debit and credit card products. Rehtmeyer brings more than 20 years of client relations experience to TMG, having served with leading organizations such as Bellevue University, The Omaha World Herald and First Data Resources.