In an article titled "Credit card wars, Part 2: Cards hugely benefit merchants" in Canada's Financial Post, Visa Canada head Tim Wilson writes about why he believes Canadian merchants should embrace Visa's debit products - rather than trying to get the Canadian regulators to impose regulation and price controls on cards.

Wilson writes:

The government intervention retailers are asking for has been tried in Australia and, while business costs have decreased, Australian consumers are worse off. They have seen credit card fees increase, card benefits reduced, the introduction of surcharging at the point-of-sale and savings realized by the retailer have not been passed to consumers."

Edgar, Dunn & Co. recently developed a whitepaper in cooperation with Sybase 365 entitled ‘Realizing the Full Potential of Mobile Commerce’. According to EDC, "stakeholders in the mobile commerce ecosystem will need to collaborate in order to bring flexibility to the consumer – the cornerstone needed for the success of mobile commerce. This will ultimately require orchestration to bring the stakeholders together and also manage the complexity of the mobile commerce ecosystem." You can also download the paper from the Sybase web site by registering.

Noting that US consumers spend $1 Trillion annually on recurring transactions and installment billing, Litle & Co. says it believes that in order to remain competitive, merchants -- particularly online, membership and subscription services businesses -- must embrace and support these transaction types as part of their overall offering. The company has developed a list of "Recurring Transactions Best Practices" to hel merchants take advantage of recurring transactions to convert traffic into long-term customer relationships and to maximize revenue opportunities. READ MORE

American Express has announced a number of new benefits available through its Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards as well as the launch of what it is calling "a 360-degree marketing campaign to build awareness for the Cards in key Delta hubs that were formerly Northwest hubs within the U.S. including Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Memphis." READ MORE

Wesabe has introduced a free application "to help consumers track and manage their money on their iPhone or iPod Touch. Wesabe's iPhone app lets members: view all of their bank and credit card accounts in one place; track their cash spending on the go; edit, categorize and tag their purchases; and set up and monitor spending targets via their phone. When consumers input a purchase, the app saves time on typing by offering up the names of the closest merchants, using the phone's GPS and Yahoo! Local APIs." READ MORE

PayPal Australia has announced "a new programme to help more organisations get online and take advantage of the Internet to open up new revenue streams. With e-commerce expected to continue to grow in the coming years, PayPal will launch a ‘Certified Developer and Partner Program’ to recruit developers and solution providers to help meet the growing demand for online payments outside of the retail sector. In addition, the company has made new tools and resources available to help organisations such as charities, foundations, schools and universities start accepting online payments and donations easily." READ MORE

Glenbrook's Erin McCune spent Saturday at the BarCampBankSF2 participant-organized "unconference" held on Treasure Island in San Francisco. Over on PaymentsViews.com, she shares her notes and observations, plus links to pictures and more coverage.

Economic confidence among small business owners rose to its highest level in 14 months in April as more of them see the broader economy and the conditions for their own businesses improving, according to the latest Discover Small Business Watch. The monthly index increased more than 10 points, rising to 88.5, up from 78.2 in March and the highest since the Watch hit 90.8 in February 2008. April’s mark represents the third consecutive monthly increase in economic confidence among small business owners. READ MORE

Online Resources has announced that its eCommerce Services unit has introduced a new disbursement solution. DIRECTV is one of five major billers that implemented the service in the first quarter. The disbursement solution satisfies a range of applications across a variety of industries including mortgages, credit cards, insurance, utilities, health care and others. Typical uses include refunds, rewards payments, credit card balance transfers, settlements, escrow payments, insurance claims, royalty payments and flexible spending account reimbursements. READ MORE

• NYTimes.com: Kenneth Lewis Fights to Keep Bank of America Job
• Kodak Selects Digital River to Run Global E-Commerce Operations
• Reuters: U.S. February credit card losses hit record -Fitch
• CNBC.com: Consumers Shun Plastic as Industry Losses Mount
• The Financial Brand: Results 2.0: Social media for financial institutions
• Forbes.com (AP): Credit card interest rates jump in last week
• National Review Online: Editorial - Obama Takes an Interest in Credit Cards
• Bloomberg.com: VisaNet to Proceed With Brazil IPO Plans in June, Valor Says
• Renowned Security Veteran Neal O'Farrell New Consumer Security Advisor for Intersections Inc.
• NFCNews: Swiss phone companies form NFC work group
• Global Payments' Chairman, Paul R. Garcia, is Presented with the Electronic Transaction Association (ETA) 2009 Distinguished Payments Professional Award
• Visa Inc. Board of Directors Approves Accelerated Class C Share Release Program
• U.S. Mobile Financial Services Markets Expected to Reach $1.46 Billion in 2013, Finds Frost & Sullivan