Lisa Scherzer writes for the Wall St. Journal that more credit card issuers are closing inactive accounts. She writes: 'As credit-card delinquencies rise, closing inactive accounts helps companies reduce their exposure to risky credit holders.'

Jupiter's Ed Kountz blogs about alternative online payments ((PayPal, BillMeLater, Google Checkout and eBillMe).

He writes: "A new JupiterResearch report indicates that consumers who are turning to alternative online payments are doing so for two primary reasons. The first is security -- in the form of not having to enter card information online. The second, convenience, is related—as anyone who has ever wanted to make a purchase on a PC upstairs, using a credit card located in a wallet or purse a floor or two away has found." Which do you think is most important for consumer adoption: convenience or security?

Ed's new blog is one of many payments and banking blogs that we've recently collected onto our "Other Blogs" page. On one page there you can see the titles of the latest posts on over 30 blogs.

Celent has published a new report titled 'Disruption in the Payments World' saying that 'the current euphoric era for many issuers will be disrupted and quite possibly eliminated over the next three years.' Why? Celent's reasons include a forecast that interchange rates will begin to decline, that a large payments company will launch an alternative network to MasterCard and Visa, and that credit card issuers will need to diversify their payments mix by adding decoupled debit payment options. READ MORE

APACS, the UK payments association, has released figures showing that the debit card retains its popularity at retailers, with spending on debit cards increasing by 11% last year. According to APACS, this increase stands in stark contrast to paper cheque spending which declined by 7.5% in terms of value and 13% by volume over the same period. Credit card spending at retailers in the UK has not grown over the last three years. READ MORE

Visa Inc. has announced that it will for the first time make its Visa International and Regional Operating Regulations available publicly, effective May 15, 2008. According to Visa, the Operating Regulations, which will be available on Visa's corporate website at http://www.corporate.visa.com, are 'the set of rules which govern the participation of issuing and acquiring financial institutions in the Visa system.' Visa also said that 'to protect cardholder and merchant safety and the Visa system, Visa has omitted proprietary and competitive information, as well as certain details from the rules relating to the security of the network. For example, in the merchant rules, Visa has omitted authorization limits by country and processing codes which could aid fraudsters.' READ MORE

For the last two days, the Federal Trade Commission held a Town Hall meeting in Washington to explore the evolving mobile commerce (M-commerce) marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. The FTC has posted the agenda for the meeting along with webcasts of the sessions along with transcripts (to be available soon).

In the UK, Monitise and Metavante have announced that they are working with Carphone Warehouse to launch a “mobile money” scheme that includes the introduction of a Carphone Warehouse prepay card managed directly from the mobile phone that can be used to shop in millions of outlets worldwide. READ MORE

The Reserve Bank of Australia has made comments to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's inquiry into eBay's recent announcement that it would mandate the use of PayPal for payments on eBay's Australian site. The RBA comments: 'The proposed conduct by eBay is to mandate the use of PayPal for almost all transactions on the eBay site. This raises three potential issues in relation to the payments system. The first is that it could limit the ability of new on-line payment systems to become established and for alternative systems to compete in the on-line payments space. The second is that it could restrict merchants' ability to negotiate lower fees. And the third is that it restricts choice for consumers.' More in the RBA's full submission. Also, CNN reports on eBay's move.

Citigroup is holding an investor and analyst day today in New York. A presentation is available online along with a webcast. Included in the presentation discussing Citi's innovation efforts are mentions of its mobile banking and mobile payments efforts with Obopay, SK Telecom, AT&T and Firethorn (slide 17). In an article titled "Blue-Light Specials at Citigroup as Its New Chief Plans a Revival", Eric Dash reports for the New York Times on efforts by Citi over the last several months to dispose of some of its weaker business assets.

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