BOKU has announced the launch of a new mobile payments service, along with the acquisition of both Paymo and Mobillcash businesses -- two leading providers in the global mobile payments industry.

According to BOKU, its mobile payments service "enables global consumers to make online purchases of digital and virtual goods with their mobile phones. The company is creating a new standard for mobile transactions by bringing bank-grade mobile payments to the Web, and enables merchants and publishers to provide fast and reliable mobile payments to over 1.6 billion consumers globally. In a related announcement today, the company raised $13 million in venture funding led by Benchmark Capital, with participation from Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures, and unveiled its management team." READ MORE

Binyamin Appelbaum reports for the Washington Post this afternoon that the Obama administration has proposed a new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, that would "protect consumers of financial products such as mortgages and credit cards."

The number of US households paying bills online will grow from 48 million this year to 63 million by 2014, according to a new report titled "US Electronic Bill Payment And Presentment Forecast, 2009 To 2014" by Forrester Research. A 5.4 percent compound annual growth rate reflects a maturing market where growth rates will shrink in the years ahead, but it also reflects a market that is not yet saturated.

Forrester sees a shift in the online bill payment market as more consumers turn to banks and bill payment consolidators like Yodlee and Corillian because of several factors, including: the convenience of having multiple bills aggregated at a single Web site, the elimination of bill payment fees, and innovative marketing efforts to drive adoption. By 2012, consolidators’ share of the online bill payment market will surpass direct billing by merchants for the first time, according to Forrester. READ MORE

A new research report titled "Protecting Personal Information: We Lost the Battle, Can We Win the War?" by TowerGroup declares that the financial services industry has lost the battle to protect consumers' personally identifiable information (PII) data. TowerGroup's George Tubin points out that "in light of the loss or theft of hundreds of millions of data records containing PII, the financial services industry must consider the ramifications of past, present and future data losses." READ MORE

Yodlee has announced that usage of Yodlee-powered PFM solutions nearly doubled to more than 17 million Personal Finance Management (PFM) users worldwide. According to Yodlee, its PFM solutions are "currently used by 6 of the top 10 U.S. banks, more than 100 leading financial institutions around the world and the most successful non-bank PFM portals." READ MORE

ThreatMetrix has unveiled a new mobile security application for smartphone users called SafeAndSurf - a web browser that securely stores a smartphone user's personal data until he or she is ready to sign-on to a social network, execute an online banking transaction, or complete an ecommerce purchase. According to the company, "SafeAndSurf is the only mobile security application to safeguard a smartphone user's personal information and also allow the user to automatically insert that information to transaction data fields, a combination that allows consumers to shop, bank and play on their smartphones more safely and easily." SafeAndSurf is available today for use on the Apple iPhone. READ MORE

Fiserv has announced that it is now providing its Mobile Money service to Bangkok Bank, one of the only banks in Thailand using an international mobile banking solution. Customers can now access Bangkok Bank's internet banking platform, Bualuang iBanking, on their mobile phone, enabling them to view account information, pay bills, transfer funds and top up their mobile phone account. The application is available in both English and Thai languages. Powered by technology from Atlanta-based M-Com, Inc. Mobile Money from Fiserv was launched in September 2008. READ MORE

Ukash has announced that it is partnering with MasterCard and will help facilitate the launch of the MasterCard rePower service in Europe - a service that allows consumers to load cash onto their MasterCard and Maestro prepaid cards at Point-of-Sale (POS) locations. READ MORE

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