Bank of America and Bottomline Technologies have announced a strategic relationship to "advance the growth of Bank of America’s market-leading electronic network for payment and invoice automation. Bottomline Technologies will acquire Bank of America's PayMode product, operations and vendor network. The two companies are entering into a multi-year agreement to operate and enhance this innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) offering. In addition to continuing to market PayMode to new clients, Bank of America will retain existing PayMode client relationships and join Bottomline’s Strategic Advisory Council. The bank will also have an equity interest in the company via warrants for one million Bottomline shares." READ MORE »

American Express today held a Financial Community Meeting in New York City. Along with the webcast, copies of the presentation slides used along with CEO Ken Chenault's opening and closing remarks are available online. Reuters covers the meeting highlights here.

Seeking Alpha just posted the transcript from Safeway's quarterly earnings call held on July 23. On the call, Safeway CEO Steven A. Burd commented on Blackhawk Networks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safeway:

To give you a brief update on Blackhawk, the value of total card sales—this is what we offer in terms of face value of the card—increased 24% for quarter two and that leaves us at 25% for the first half of this year.

The sales of closed loop partner cards are an interesting one to follow because essentially those cards represent the gift cards of a lot of retailers who are going through the same kind of economic events that we are. The sales of the closed loop partner cards increased 22.4% in the quarter and are growing at a rate that is much faster than our partners' own card sales.

Year-to-date we are on plan for Blackhawk, both in terms of face value card sales and earnings."

The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor fell for the second consecutive month from 85.6 to 83.5 (based out of 100), as consumer attitudes towards the economy and the current state of their personal finances continued to deteriorate. Overall, 61 percent rated current economic conditions as poor, a 2-point increase from the previous month. READ MORE »

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