The results of the "stress tests" of the financial conditions of the nation's 19 largest bank holding companies by the federal bank supervisory agencies have been released. The exercise--conducted by the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation--was conducted so that supervisors could determine the capital buffers sufficient for the 19 bank holding companies to withstand losses and sustain lending--even if the economic downturn is more severe than is currently anticipated.

The Federal Reserve has published its G.19 Consumer Credit report for the first quarter 2009. Consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 2 percent in the first quarter. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 6-1/2 percent, and nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 1 percent. In March, consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 5-1/4 percent with revolving credit declining 6.8 percent.

PULSE has launched PULSE Select, a surcharge-free ATM network alliance with the MoneyPass Network. The PULSE Select/MoneyPass Surcharge-free ATM Network provides financial institution participants with access to more than 16,000 surcharge-free ATMs in the US. READ MORE

Western Union has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Canada-based Custom House, Ltd., a provider of business-to-business international payment solutions for small and medium enterprises. The US $370 million cash transaction is expected to close in the third quarter 2009, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. READ MORE

Heartland Payment Systems has announced financial results for the first quarter - including announcing a $12.6 million provision (pre-tax) for various expenses and accruals that were attributable to the processing system intrusion Heartland experienced in 2008. The company has recently returned to Visa’s and MasterCard’s lists of PCI-DSS Validated Service Providers.

I happened to visit Visa.com this morning and noticed a brand new web site design - based around Visa's new advertising theme "More People Go With Visa". Check it out!

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