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In an article titled "NFC is more than just payments", Andy Williams writes for NFC News about the other applications of near-field communications - beyond payments. "What makes NFC so attractive is the wide range of applications it can support, whether it’s opening a door, logging into your computer, signing on to the Internet, or using your phone like a PDA stylus, touching points on a map or other display to gather further information or directions."
From Glenbrook's Scott Loftesness: As part of my research at Glenbrook in 2009, I'm exploring innovations in consumer payments in the United States - seeking to understanding how innovation happens, what the key drivers of innovation in payments are, and the people and organizational aspects of successful payments innovation.
You can help me by suggesting the innovations you consider most important - and helping to rank them for further research and examination. I'm using Google Moderator for this effort - I've seeded the initial list with about 30 "ideas" of innovations. You can vote on which you consider most important - or even add your own to the list. To participate, click here - and thanks in advance for participating!
Citi today has announced the first edition of a new quarterly report on its use of TARP funds. The report, titled "What Citi Is Doing to Expand the Flow of Credit, Support Homeowners and Help the U.S. Economy" 
includes a section on Citi's credit card business (page 23) - where it says:
"Citi’s primary objective, particularly in this environment, is to fund the expansion of credit to existing card members and target new account originations, based on their ability to repay their loans" and that "in 2009, Citi Cards plans to extend a significant amount of new credit to U.S. consumers, within Citi’s customary sound lending standards."
What's not clear from Citi's TARP report is how these plans relate to Citi's upward adjustment of interest rates on outstanding credit card balances that began in mid-November.
National Payment Card Association, an early player in ACH decoupled debit cards with payment settlement system that offer merchants lower transaction fees than credit or debit cards, has announced it has launched GasCapRewards, a nationally branded, lower-cost, turnkey payment system.
Moversa, a joint venture between NXP and Sony Corporation, has announced it will unveil its latest security chip – the Universal Secure Access Module (U-SAM) – at this year’s Mobile World Congress (16-19 February in Barcelona, Spain). According to the company, "the chip manages contactless smart card applications, regardless of protocols and operating systems, in Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile devices. The potential of the U-SAM will be showcased on the NTT DOCOMO stand (Stand B117, Hall 8) in a demonstration featuring how multiple applications based on different contactless technologies, can be accessed on one mobile handset." READ MORE »
Experian and PredictiveMetrics have announced the launch of PriorityScore for Collections - "a suite of collection scoring models blending Experian's credit reporting agency data with client-supplied data that produces an accurate ranking and predictive forecast of consumer repayment amounts." READ MORE »
White Eagle (Europe) in conjunction with Newcastle Building Society has launched the Freedom Eagle Cash Card, an instant issue prepaid MasterCard available in a handy retail pack. According to White Eagle, the card "is fully re-loadable, unlike most other instant issue products in the market which can only be loaded once - some even have to be thrown away when the funds are exhausted. The Freedom card is fully functional even at entry level and can be easily upgraded to higher spend levels depending upon certain criteria being satisfied. The Chip & PIN facility offers additional security and the card represents great value for money." READ MORE »
EMVCo, the EMV standards body jointly owned by JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., has announced American Express as its fourth owner-member. According to the organization, "the addition of this latest international payment organisation aligns with EMVCo’s intent to attract further industry participation in the development of the EMV Specifications." READ MORE »
In an article titled "Branching Out: Mobile Banking Finds New Users", Ben Worthen writes for the Wall St. Journal about the growth in mobile banking services and users in the US. Worthen writes: "Overall, the number of people in the U.S. that use mobile-banking services grew to 3.1 million in 2008 from 400,000 in 2007, and that number is expected to hit seven million this year, according to ABI Research, a technology-research firm based in New York."
Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.
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