Late today, Alliance Data Systems announced that it has terminated the May 17, 2007 merger agreement providing for the acquisition of Alliance Data by affiliates of The Blackstone Group.   » Continue Reading

Glenbrook's Allen Weinberg was at this week's 2008 annual Electronic Transactions Association's Annual Meeting & Expo in Las Vegas. Allen has filed a field report from the Expo.

Citigroup announced its first quarter financial results this morning - including plans to cut 9,000 more jobs on top of the 4,200 layoffs announced in January. ""It is clearly feasible for us to take 10, 15, 20 percent off our cost base, especially in information technology and operations," Citi CEO Vikram Pandit told the Financial Times. Citi also disclosed it had a $349 million pre-tax gain on Visa shares and a $161 million pre-tax gain on the sale of MasterCard shares during the quarter.

• Business Week: How New Global Banking Rules Could Deepen the U.S. Crisis
• Center for American Progress: Problems with Plastic: Credit Card Debt Hits Record High
• EU's McCreevy tells payment card cos not to use SEPA as excuse for price rises
• Investor's Business Daily: Great Credit Score Gets More Important
• SF Chronicle: TransLink - Prepaid fare card's launch put off again
• eMarketer: Online Banking is Old News. Hello Mobile!

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Roy Vella has been named Director of Mobile at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group leading RBS' global efforts in pursuit of opportunities at the intersection of mobile telephony and financial services. Vella spent the past five years with PayPal - most recently as PayPal's Head of Mobile Payments in Europe.