The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published "Payments Pricing: Who Bears the Cost?—A conference summary" by Katy Jacob, policy research specialist, Financial Markets Group, Carrie Jankowski, business economist, Financial Markets Group, and Anna Lunn, associate economist, Financial Markets Group.

"As consumers and merchants increasingly adopt electronic payments, the pricing of these services has generated substantial scrutiny by public authorities around the world. To discuss these developments and related issues, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted its ninth annual Payments Conference on May 14–15, 2009."

First Data has reported its financial results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2009. "Consolidated revenues were $2.2 billion, or flat, and up 4% on a constant currency basis. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were $607 million, down 5%, or down 1% on a constant currency basis. In addition to the adverse impact of the strong U.S. dollar, adjusted EBITDA comparisons were unfavorably affected by lower royalty revenue. Excluding currency effects and the change in royalty revenue, adjusted EBITDA was up 1%. The net loss attributable to First Data was $196 million, which includes after-tax interest expenses of $284 million."

"We continue to execute well on all fronts," said Michael Capellas, chairman and CEO of First Data. "In particular, our unique strategic alliances continue to enhance our leadership position in delivering innovative payment services to merchants." READ MORE »

Mary Pilon reports for the Wall St. Journal on PayPal's new Student Account program - saying it is "stepping further into the world of mainstream banking." Included is a link to an interview by MarketWatch’s Jonathan Burton with PayPal vice president Don Fotsch who helped lead development of the new program.

In an article titled "China Cracking Down on Credit Card Issuers", Michael Wei and Kirby Chien write for Reuters from Beijing about China's slowing down expansion of credit cards - noting that concerns about expanding too quickly have led "Beijing government and banks to scale back a credit card policy that expanded too far, too fast in a country with little history of or experience with personal debt."

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