In a press release titled "RBS WorldPay Announces Compromise of Data Security and Outlines Steps to Mitigate Risk", RBS WorldPay (formerly RBS Lynk), the U.S. payment processing arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, announced that its computer system had been improperly accessed by an unauthorized party in early November.

According to more information provided on the RBS Worldpay web site, "the issue affected pre-paid cardholders and other individuals. Approximately 100 payroll cards have been used in a fraudulent manner and those cards have been de-activated. Our internal security professionals and outside experts are working with federal and state law enforcement authorities in an investigation of this event."

The New York Times' Dealbook takes a look at the dispute and litigation currently underway between Morgan Stanley and its former subsidiary Discover Financial Services. At issue is how the recent settlements with Visa and MasterCard are to be split between the two firms.

[Update: Amazon Payments is also active on Twitter.]

Amazon.com's Payments Team has launched a new blog - the Amazon Payments Blog. Baris Cetinok of the team writes "Our team will post here on this blog on a regular basis – our goal is to share with you the latest news, thoughts, ideas, and inspirations about Amazon Payments. ... We will share stories of consumers, merchants, and developers using Amazon Payments to pay or to get paid." [Editor's note: We've just added the Amazon Payments Blog to our list of other banking and payments-related blogs.]

American Express has announced that "the United States Department of Treasury has provided preliminary approval for the company to participate in the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program. American Express expects to issue and sell to the Treasury preferred stock of approximately $3.39 billion and warrants to purchase shares of common stock for up to 15% of that amount." In November, American Express was approved as a bank holding company by the Federal Reserve.

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a new discussion paper titled "Legislative Responses to Data Breaches and Information Security Failures" by Philip Keitel. READ MORE

The Payment Cards Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has published a new paper titled "Restricting Consumer Credit Access: Household Survey Evidence on Effects Around the Oregon Rate Cap" by Jonathan Zinman of Dartmouth College. READ MORE

With holiday shipping deadlines now history for most e-commerce retailers, the Chase Paymentech Cyber Holiday Pulse Index continues to show an increase from last year. The Index, an annual measurement of online shopping activity during the holiday season, tracks e-commerce spending activity across a sample of 25 of the leading online merchants as listed by Internet Retailer. The measurement indicates both sales volume and transaction count for online purchases crossing Chase Paymentech’s global processing platforms. READ MORE

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