In May, L.L.Bean announced it was terminating its card issuing relationship with Bank of America. Today, L.L.Bean and Barclays announced the launch of the new L.L.Bean Visa card, which will be available tomorrow, July 1. According to the two companies, "the card rewards loyal customers with coupon dollars good toward L.L.Bean merchandise every time they use the card, plus a wealth of new and improved benefits to make the card even more rewarding than before." As part of the deal, Barclays earlier this month opened a new call center in Maine. READ MORE

ID Analytics has announced the availability of ID Analytics for Authentication - calling it "a network based authentication solution that enables organizations to validate customer identities during online and call center interactions. ID Analytics for Authentication accurately separates legitimate and suspicious identities while reducing customer abandonment rates and lowering the cost of an authentication session by up to 50 percent." READ MORE

Macerich has announced a strategic alliance with American Express who will become the new gift card provider and marketing partner for Macerich shopping centers across the United States. "Under the five-year agreement American Express will create a specially branded open loop gift card for Macerich. The partnership also includes the opportunity for marketing and promotional programs to explore new ways to effectively reach shoppers." READ MORE

Fears about identity theft and financial fraud are top global concerns for consumers, according to the latest results of the Unisys Security Index. Identity theft is the primary security concern cited among respondents in nine out of 14 countries, while misuse of credit or debit card information ranks as the first or second greatest fear in 12 out of the 14 countries. Interestingly, the survey found an apparent lack of concern about using the Internet to shop, bank and email. According to Unisys, the data indicates that concern about Internet security has taken a back seat to other areas studied, such as issues related to financial well-being and the protection against bank card fraud. READ MORE

MicroBilt and PRBC have announced are that they are "teaming to help small-to-medium (SME) enterprises and financial institutions conduct more business with an estimated 50-70 million American consumers with “thin” or no established credit histories. The two companies will merge payment data collected by MicroBilt and PRBC in PRBC’s data repository to help more consumers qualify for FICO® Expansion® scores used by lenders and financial institutions in underwriting new loans. As part of the agreement, MicroBilt will make an equity investment in PRBC." READ MORE

Planet Payment has announced the launch in the United States of Payment BuyVoice, a mobile commerce solution that "provides merchants with a cost effective, secure and convenient way to accept credit cards, from any mobile phone or landline." READ MORE

APACS has announced that £354 billion was spent on plastic cards in the UK in 2007 - a 10 percent increase over 2006 - and that spending of debit cards accounted for 62 per cent of total plastic card spend and 72 percent of total plastic card transactions. Debit cards were used to make 4.9 billion purchases in the UK while credit and charge cards were used to make 1.9 billion purchases. Credit card credit outstanding in the UK fell by £1.1 billion during 2007. READ MORE

OpenTable has announced the beta launch of the OpenTable Mobile service, "enabling consumers to find real-time table availability and book restaurant reservations through their mobile devices. Now it’s even easier for people who are away from their computers to enjoy the convenience and ease of booking their restaurant reservations online." READ MORE

mFoundry has announced that Banc of America Strategic Investments Corp. has completed a strategic investment in the company. Bank of America complements mFoundry’s existing strategic investors Motorola, PayPal, and NCR, and venture backers GRP Partners, Ignition Partners and Apax Partners. READ MORE

Chris Skinner updates his look at PayPal upon its tenth anniversary. He writes: "I reckon that the mixture of innovations, such as becoming a bank in Europe and offering mobile payments as a first mover, to expanding across borders and territories worldwide, is the secret behind PayPal’s success."

Electronic Payment Exchange (EPX) has announced today it has signed a multi-year agreement with Pioneer Telephone to process its customers’ payments. In addition to traditional payment processing, Pioneer will begin using EPX’s PINless Debit product to process their customers’ payments who choose to pay for services using their debit cards. READ MORE

• Global Payments and HSBC Bank plc Finalize HSBC Merchant Services Joint Venture in the United Kingdom
• All American Rally Against MasterCard and Visa Credit Card Fees on Gasoline
• SWIFT Expands to West Coast
• Dynamic Card Solutions Partners with First National Bank to Offer an All-in-One Campus Card
• San Francisco Chronicle: Merchants asked to secure their sites
• INSIDE Contactless Receives Additional Funding From Samsung Ventures America
• Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM): Small Business Economic Confidence Drops to New Low; Nearly 8 in 10 Say Economy is Getting Worse
• PCI Security Standards Council Strengthens Payment Card Data Security by Adding Additional Payment Devices to Existing Standards