Concord EFS announced today that Ronald V. Congemi has resigned from the board. Two new board members were announced: Dr. Shirley C. Raines, president of the University of Memphis and Arthur N. Seessel III Raines, a management consultant to the supermarket industry.

The Conference Board reported today an increase in trust by consumers when conducting financial transactions online.

Trust levels among Internet users for online transactions have improved from a year ago (fourth quarter 2001). Now, more than 33 percent express trust that their online financial transactions are safe, up from 27.5 percent a year ago. Consumers also expressed a greater degree of trust when purchasing products online. One-fourth trust that their personal information will be safe when purchasing products online, up from 21.9 percent a year ago.

Some other interesting findings from the report:

• Only 33.6 percent of U.S. consumers have never been online, down from 34.7 percent.
• Currently, 37.4 percent of users go online daily, up from 33.7 percent a year ago.
• Of those who go online daily, 60.5 percent have made an online purchase in the last three months, down from 62.3 percent a year ago.

If we do some quick math (based upon 210 million consumers in the US 18 years or age or older) with a few other assumptions from the data, approximately 57 million consumers have made an online purchase in the last three months. (See: Census Data) The full report is available for purchase.

CyberStarts, backed by major financial services companies such as First Data, Wachovia, Fortis, Marsh Capital and NCO Group Inc., has announced the sale of Sunaro Inc., a provider of employee benefits software and services, to London insurance broker Willis Group Holdings.

A report on a survey of 2,000 Scottish consumers regarding their interest in store cards and reward schemes.

Visa responds to yesterday's press coverage reporting that Qantas and Caltex intended to adopt surcharges on credit card use in Australia.

Visa vice president Asia Pacific Gordon Wheaton said the credit card operator had always argued that rather than pass on price reduction, merchants who applied the surcharge would use it to increase their revenue. "On just the second day of these regulations being in place, we see a major oil company openly admitting that they would use the RBA's changes to their advantage and not the consumers," Mr Wheaton said. "Major retailers and oil companies have been at the forefront of arguing for these changes for the past two years. It is time they clearly stated if they intend to surcharge, at what level and what price reductions they are going to deliver to their customers."

Separately, Kirsty Needham reports in the Sydney Morning Herald on more merchants considering imposing surcharges on credit card use.

The Service Station Association said it was keen to see retailers recover some of the costs imposed on them by the banks, and was aware of some operators considering a surcharge. But the association's president, Richard Halstead, said "no one wants to be the first to introduce it".