The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency has released its final report, "Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency" . "The Commission’s three major findings are: cybersecurity is now one of the major national security problems facing the U.S.; decisions and actions must respect American values related to privacy and civil liberties; and only a comprehensive national security strategy that embraces both the domestic and international aspects of cybersecurity will improve the situation."

The Bank for International Settlements has just published its latest Quarterly Review - covering a range of topics related to the global financial crisis.

According to the 2008 Chase Paymentech Pulse Index, last Tuesday, December 2, was the peak online shopping day - surpassing sales on Cyber Monday, December 1. Both purchase transactions and sales volume were up significantly on Tuesday over last year's levels - but then fell off as the week progressed.

Vodafone, Safaricom and Western Union have announced that they will partner to pilot a cross-border Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) service between the U.K. and Kenya. This service will enable customers to send cross-border remittances from select locations directly to Safaricom mobile subscribers in Kenya generally in minutes. READ MORE »

Discover Card has released its annual Holiday Shopping Survey assessing consumer spending trends and gift intentions for the 2008 holiday season. According to the survey, "on average, shoppers expect to spend nearly 10 percent less this year than in 2007. More than half (55 percent) of respondents say they plan to cut back. Of these, 89 percent said the economy had an influence on their decision to do so."

• The Independent (UK): The great credit card scandal
• Fidelity Investments(R) Introduces Innovative New Rewards Card That Enables Investors to Save for Retirement While Making Everyday Purchases
• New Aite Group Report: Credit Card Rewards: Why Issuers Should Compete on Service
• SVPCO: Average Daily Check Image Volume Hits All-Time High
• Stored Value Solutions Appoints Ralph Rolen to Executive Vice President and General Manager
• American Express Becomes the Official Card Partner of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Intuit: The New Free Quicken Online: The Web's First Forward-Looking Personal Finance Service
• In-Store Marketing Institute: Safeway Gives Thanks (re: Blackhawk Network)
• APACS (UK): Payments industry issues advice for people with disabilities
• comScore: Holiday E-Commerce Season Sales Finally Match Last Year as Two Workdays This Past Week Each Surpass $800 Million in Online Spending
• NetSpend's Prepaid Reloadable Debit Cards Provide Financial Management System for Holiday Shopping
• Billeo: Consumer Online Bill Payment Behavior Revealed in New Study
• Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain Goes Hi-Tech
• Washington Post - Security Fix blog: Digging Deeper Into the CheckFree Attack
• Chicago Tribune: Discover Financial Services' CEO finds optimism in credit card sector
• iPhone Atlas: Shop Til You Drop: Amazon App for iPhone
• BtoB Magazine: Sears explores mobile commerce frontier with new Sears2go site
• Harris Bank Signs Contract Renewal with NYCE Network