AP reports on American Express CEO Ken Chenault's presentation earlier today at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking Conference where he reported that cardholder spending in October actually increased 3% in October versus the same month in 2008 - the first sign of positive growth this year. Chenault's slide presentation and his prepared talking points are available online.

First Data and Accertify have announced an agreement to integrate Accertify's fraud prevention platform with First Data's eCommerce processing gateways and platforms.

According to the two companies, "the integration of Accertify's Interceptas® platform will provide First Data with a comprehensive, end-to-end fraud deterrence solution. This solution will equip First Data's customers with tools to help mitigate risk and reduce losses associated with fraud. The solution also eliminates the need for merchants to deploy separate payment and risk platforms. First Data will offer this combined solution to its 300,000 merchants around the world that sell goods or services over the Internet and in a card-not-present environment." READ MORE »

PriceWaterhouseCoopers has published a new version of its Precious Plastic report for 2010 covering the card market in the UK. "2009 has been a watershed year for consumer credit in the UK, with both lenders and borrowers reassessing their balance sheets. Historically high levels of bad debt, a growing regulatory burden, continuing funding and capital constraints and the toughest macro-economic environment in a generation are placing unprecedented pressure on UK lenders. As a result, consumers will face a reduction in the availability of credit and an increase in its cost."

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