JB King writes in SearchCRM.com about smart cards getting smarter.   » Continue Reading

Palo Alto Weekly reporter Elizabeth White writes about Palo Alto-based micropayment provider BitPass.   » Continue Reading

Wachovia Bank says it's the best at respecting its online customers based upon a study completed by the Customer Respect Group.   » Continue Reading

Journalism.co.uk reports on increased consumer response to paid digital content.

"Consumers are not afraid to pay for things - they do it everyday," said Mr Law. "Those of you sitting on the side lines - don't intellectualise about it. Just dive in and do something!"

[Update: 9/1/05 - FDC announced the resignation of James L. Schoedinger.]

First Data Corp. announced this morning the appointment of James L. Schoedinger, 45, as president of its Card Issuing Services business unit.   » Continue Reading

The New York Times reports on the deal announced yesterday between American Express and MBNA.   » Continue Reading

Phishing attacks are a rapidly growing problem on the Internet. I've just posted on the Glenbrook web site a recent analysis of phishing attacks which includes some implications for financial institutions, a recommended action plan, etc.

The Financial Services Roundtable and BITS have announced the formation of the Identity Theft Assistance Corporation, a non-profit industry consortium formed to pilot the Identity Theft Assistance Center (ITAC).   » Continue Reading

While American Express and MBNA are cheering their new partnership, merchants in the US have to get ready for the inevitable effects this new competition for card issuance will have on their costs.   » Continue Reading

American Express and MBNA announced this morning a card issuing alliance where MBNA will issue American Express cards in the US, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom.   » Continue Reading

POS terminal supplier Lipman Electronic Engineering, Ltd. announced yesterday that it had completed an initial public offering on NASDAQ under the symbol LPMA.

MasterCard has announced that Norman McLuskie has been named chairman of the MasterCard Europe board of directors replacing Mr Jean-Pierre Ledru, Senior Vice President of Crédit Agricole S.A., France. McLuskie is currently Chairman (formerly Chief Executive) of the Retail Direct division of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group in the UK.

NACHA's Internet Council is holding its next meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco next week. The meeting agenda is available online.

Yesterday InfoSpace reported quarterly financial results including results for its Authorize.net payments business.   » Continue Reading

Pay By Touch has announced an agreement with IBM to offer retailers using IBM point of sale systems the ability for their customers to pay by touch.   » Continue Reading

Investors Business Daily reports on iPayment's strategy of focusing on small merchants.

The company serves 90,000 small merchants across the country. The average processed transaction is $75, with each merchant typically creating less than $250,000 a year in charge volume.

China View is reporting on plans by the Chinese government to issue new intelligent ID cards to its 1.3 million people.

Newsweek's Jennifer Barrett reports on the problem of phishing attacks.

“It’s not an annoyance, it’s a threat [to businesses]. It is real loss,” says David Jevans, chairman of the U.S.-based Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), a consortium of more than 60 banks, retailers, and security firms that have joined forces since last fall to tackle the issue.

PayPal has introduced a new PayPal Payment Wizard for use with Microsoft's Outlook email software to allow the addition of PayPal payment buttons to outgoing email enabled senders to receive funds without having a website.

Amazon this afternoon announced financial results for the fourth quarter 2003. Sales were up 36 percent over the same period in 2002 while operating income grew to 7 percent of net sales, up from 5 percent of net sales in Q4 2002. Interestingly, much of the growth in the fourth quarter came from international sales which grew at a 74 percent rate totaling slightly over 41% of total sales.

Timex is offering Speedpass-enabled watches on its website. The site says the watches will be available for a limited time only.

Edgar Dunn this morning reports the results of their PaymentDynamics 2004 Preferred Card Study.   » Continue Reading

Business Week writer Amey Stone takes a look at Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon's return to New York as he ultimate becomes CEO of JP Morgan Chase following its merger with Bank One.   » Continue Reading

FinanceAsia shares a perspective from Yahoo! and HSBC on the future of consumer electronic payments with specific examples from Yahoo! PayDirect.

J. Lynn Lunsford reports in today's Wall St. Journal (subscription required) on the impact of electronic check imaging on the current "freight dogs" who haul paper checks around the country every evening.

American Express earlier today reported earnings for 4Q 2003. For the full year 2003, revenues were up 9 percent compared to 2002. Merchant discount revenues grew 11 percent reflecting a 13 percent increase in cardholder spending.

Notes from CFO Gary Crittenden's earnings conference call (available online) include mention that he is confident of doing a network related deal with a US bank sometime in 2004.

Concord EFS put out a press release earlier today saying that the lawsuit filed by NYCE last week is without merit.

"Contrary to the claims made in the NYCE complaint, Concord is in full compliance with all provisions of the 1993 agreement with NYCE," said Ronald V. Congemi, president of Concord Network Services. "The STAR(SM) network routing rules were specifically amended to support the NYCE agreement when STAR was acquired by Concord in 2001. STAR's network rules, which are established by its member financial institutions, support an open and flexible business environment that allows for collaboration, cooperation, and the resolution of issues when conflicting network rules come into play. The NYCE complaint attempts to undermine these rules by improperly extending to the entire STAR network the terms of an agreement expressly limited to the small number of financial institutions who are members of both the MAC and NYCE networks."

Robert Scoble blogs his chance encounter airplane conversation with REI CEO Dennis Madsen.

New service they are working on? New gift registry. Connects online, instore. All 70 stores nationwide will have it. Took 18 months to develop. Turns on in two weeks.

The Economist takes a look at the explosive growth in online retailing happening in the UK. Generally high retail prices along with the relative inconvenience of retail shopping in the UK help make consumers appreciate the convenience of online shopping.

Amazon.com is seeking a Global Payments manager based in Seattle.

The successful candidate should have extensive experience in the payments processing world with in depth knowledge of payment systems both internationally and domestically; will have 10+ years in the payments industry, preferably with experience at one of the Card Companies or with a major bank or acquirer; and will have the ability to be effective in a highly dynamic environment.

InfoWorld has published its list of the top 25 CTO's -- including MasterCard's Jerry McElhatton and Visa USA CIO Scott Thompson. Other financial services technology executives named to the list included Citigroup CTO Tom Sanzone.

Lee Gomes writes in this morning's Wall St. Journal about weak web security (subscription required) -- in particular problems recently with the web sites of OpenTable.com and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The two sites' problems show something of the whack-a-mole nature of Web security. New worries always pop up. At first, the emphasis online was on preventing a hacker from snooping on the connection between a user and a Web site. Now, with that problem largely solved, sites are being forced to examine more-subtle issues, like how seemingly innocuous information given to trusted customers can be used for ill.

Update: Open Table has posted more information about the security problem last week on its web site.

Cyota has announced FraudAction, a suite of services designed to help financial institutions minimize the impact of phishing attacks on their clients.

FraudAction is the only solution geared specifically towards financial institution email fraud; the service assists banks to prepare for an attack before it occurs, to respond to an attack while it takes place, and to address all issues that arise following an attack.

Dean Anason reports in the the American Banker on the US Department of the Treasury's Michael A. Dawson and his concern that small banks must be just as vigilant as larger banks when it comes to security.

For that reason, the Treasury last month invested $2 million in the private-sector Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or FS-ISAC. The center allows companies to anonymously share warnings of attacks in progress or potential ones, advice on defense, and fixes such as software patches. The Treasury money will help the center upgrade its technology and broaden its mission and membership.

The Sunday Straits Times reports from Singapore on the latest news in credit card fraud.

The Financial Express reports from India on MasterCard's plans for growth in India.

Mastercard International is targeting a 40 per cent growth for the financial year 2004-05. At present, it has 7 million debit cards and 5 million credit cards. It is soon tying up with a credit card company to launch a card for consumers in the age group of 15 and 24, who till now were not considered to be the traditional cardholders.

The Star reports from Malaysia on the migration to EMV smart cards.

According to a Visa International official, Malaysia is set to be the first country in the Asia Pacific to complete its national migration to EMV standards next year. Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are to be next.  In Malaysia, RHB Bank Bhd is among the early birds to migrate to EMV standards s with its EVO card. 

India's Business Standard reports on the Indian credit bureau negative file system being built by the MasterCard-led India Cooperation Committee.   » Continue Reading

Dennis Nishi reports in the Chicago Tribune (subscription required) on RFID and infrared-based payment schemes.

Bill Thompson of the BBC provides advice on how to avoid providing personal information in response to a phishing email attack.

There are some simple rules to avoid falling for this sort of scam. One is never to click on a link in an e-mail, even if it looks OK. It is safer to type it in yourself or to cut and paste it from the e-mail into your web browser.

This is really important because a recently discovered bug in Microsoft's Internet Explorer means that a scammer can make a fake website look real. A link which claims to be take you to PayPal might point to a fake site, but thanks to this as-yet-unpatched bug it will still say www.paypal.com in the address bar.

The Princeton Packet reports on the initial installation of new parking meters in Princeton, NJ capable of taking smart cards for payment.

The user may set the amount of money to be placed on the card, which will initially cost $10, he said. With each addition of money to the card, the user will gain a parking bonus, Mr. Bruschi said. For example, a $20 renewal would provide $22 worth of parking.

 The cards offer another advantage over paying with coins. If a smart-card user has time left over on a meter, the user simply inserts the card back in the slot and the remaining time is credited back to the card.

In an exclusive Reuters inteview, William Harrison, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, commented on the combined credit card business of Bank One and Chase.

Harrison said the companies have not decided if they will stick with either Visa or MasterCard when they combine their card businesses. Analysts have said the merged bank will likely shift the majority of its card business to one association or the other. But their combined size gives them bargaining power with the associations. "We have a lot more leverage with whomever we want to strike a deal with," Harrison said.

Eweek's Guy Kewney surveys the action in RFID including proximity-based payment cards. Dave Birch from Consult Hyperion comments:

"In the UK and other countries we're doing the chip and PIN migration; we're catching up with France," Birch says. "All the boring old bank magnetic stripe credit and debit cards are being replaced by super new chip cards where push your card into a reader, and you punch in your PIN instead of signing. Millions are being rolled out, but it's actually old technology."

In the US, says Birch, they still haven't gone down that route. They may not ever do so. "What's sitting behind this, is that the US may decide to skip over that generation because their online fraud levels are so much lower," he says. "It's because they have far more online point-of-sale terminals, They may go directly to contactless."

NYCE has filed a lawsuit against Concord EFS over debit card transaction routing agreements.

 In the complaint filed yesterday, NYCE charges that Concord has violated a 1993 agreement and engaged in other unlawful conduct as a result of certain operating rules it has adopted and is attempting to enforce. Those rules generally require that point-of-sale (POS) transactions conducted with cards branded with NYCE and STAR at similarly branded POS terminals, be routed to Concord's STAR-branded network, even if the card issuer has designated that the transaction be routed to the NYCE network.

The 1993 agreement obligates NYCE and the Concord entities to permit financial institutions that participate in both EFT networks to direct how POS transactions using their cards are routed. The agreement established a precedent for issuer designation and honoring of network priority routing.

Patrick Gray reports in ZDNet from Australia on expectations that phishing scams will only get worse.

The introduction of a two-way verification process may help to mitigate these types of scams, MacGibbon said. Every time a user enters their log-in name the bank's Web-site, the system can display a pass-phrase given to the institution by the customer -- something easy to remember, such as "I like bananas in the morning" -- before they enter their password. By engaging in a two-way authentication process, not only is the bank verifying the authenticity of the customer's credentials, the bank is verifying itself to the user as well.

Payment processor CyberSource today reported a profitable Q4 which exceeded prior guidance.

"The fourth quarter is powerful testimony to the CyberSource value proposition," said Bill McKiernan, the company's chairman and CEO. "We saw strong growth in revenue, excellent margins, and most importantly, the company's first quarter of profitability. The dollar volume of our credit card authorizations was a record $5.4 billion. This was a very strong quarter for the company and highlights the solid momentum we have going into 2004."

Loretta Kalb reports in the Sacramento Bee on a mailing error by a third party vendor that resulted in Bank of America sending tax documents to the wrong customers.

The customers received mailings addressed to them but containing 1099 tax forms meant for others. The bank attributed the blunder to a printer malfunction by a third-party vendor but would not identify the company. BofA spokeswoman Betty Riess said Wednesday that the bank will provide customers with a two-year credit-monitoring service called PrivacySource to help guard against identity theft. She added that customers would not be responsible for unauthorized account activity.

The US Federal Trade Commission has released its list of the top consumer complaint categories for 2003. Identity theft topped the list accounting for 42 per cent of all complaints. The full report is available online.

Mike Himowitz writes in the Baltimore Sun about how phishing attacks can be thwarted.

Millions of phishing messages bombarded the Internet over the holiday shopping season, and some security experts estimate that as many as 5 percent of recipients take the bait (which is why it's known as phishing - hackers like to substitute "ph" for "f").

Bill Virgin writes in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about smart cards in the US.

The dazzle of the technology itself was enough seven years ago. Now it's not. Those potential customers are putting this question to smart cards and those marketing the technology: "You're smart. So what? Now prove to me you're more convenient and less expensive than what I've got already."

RFID Journal profiles Vivotech's new contactless gift card solution for retailers.

The new ViVOgiftcard adheres to ISO standard 14443B and can operate over multiple frequencies, including 134 KHz, the same frequency used by ExxonMobil Speedpass system. The only information stored on the ViVOgiftcard is the customer's card number and a security code that changes at each reading.

The monetary value on the card is stored centrally on a retailer's back-end server. The company says that the gift cards' data storage capacity—which ranges from 64Kbits to 4kbytes—can be expanded to accommodate additional user information. After a card is used to make a purchase, consumers can reload value in any of three ways: either at the register, at a store kiosk placed in or near the store, or over the Internet using a debit or credit card.

eBay reported earnings yesterday including results for PayPal. PayPal payment volume in the fourth quarter was $3.7 billion coming from 41 million registered PayPal users. This payment volume represented 22% growth in volume from the prior quarter and a 74% increase from the same quarter a year earlier. PayPal's average ticket was slightly over $54. Supporting eBay's continued auction growth, 69% of PayPal's payment volume was auction-related, up from 67% in the prior quarter.

PayPal's revenues on that payment volume were $130 million representing a gross revenue of 3.52% of payment volume. This represented a 23% increase over the third quarter and a 68% increase over the same quarter a year earlier.

PayPal's user base grew at ten percent over the prior quarter and 49 per cent over the same quarter in the prior year. PayPal added about 42,000 new users each day during the fourth quarter.

PayPal's transaction loss rate jumped in the fourth quarter from 0.22% in the third quarter to 0.31% of payment volume in the fourth quarter -- totaling $11.5 million. Other expenses dropped slightly from 1.25% of payment volume to 1.23% indicating further economies of scale being achieved. PayPal generated about $57 million in profit for eBay during the quarter running at a margin of about 43% pre-tax.

Payment processor TSYS was hammered in today's stock market action following a conference call yesterday where management forecast lower growth in 2004. A Dow Jones newswire story on the call is available.

"Certainly we recognize that this forecast is lower than our historic year over year projections," Chief Executive Phil Tomlinson said during a conference call Wednesday, adding that "by some measures, 2004 will be one of the more challenging years this company has ever experienced."

PayCircle has announced the harmonization of the co-branded PayCircle/Parlay specification with the JPay API along with its partnership with the Liberty Alliance Project.

W.A. Lee reports in this morning's American Banker on Bank One's acquisition of the Circuit City portfolio and, as a result, its re-entry into the private label card business.

Bank One chief executive officer James Dimon said in a conference call Tuesday that "it has become obvious to us that we need to be in" private-label and "have knowledge about it, because in some cases private-label and cobranding in cards come together. We have to be a little bit more prepared for that. This is kind of our opening foray into that. We think Circuit City will be a great partner."

ComputerWorld reports on various initiatives to combat phishing attacks.

The rapid growth of so-called phishing scams has left IT managers, industry groups and technology vendors scrambling to deal with the e-mail fraud problem. A large part of the effort is focused on consumer awareness programs, cross-border law enforcement activities and improvements in information sharing between companies and authorities. But new tools and services that could help companies better detect and respond to such scams are also beginning to emerge.

Minnesota Public Radio reports on U.S. Bank's efforts to educate customers about phishing attacks.

The Wall St. Journal has a front page story this morning on the credit card crisis in Korea.

Because Korea's social structure makes family members feel accountable for each other's debts, one person's credit problems often ripple outward through entire families and social networks, curbing the spending of large groups of people and potentially prolonging a slump in consumer spending. Kim Jun Ho, an animator in Seoul, complains bitterly that his entire family has been turned into "credit-card slaves," with family members having to devote much of their income to supporting his sister and repaying her $42,000 in credit-card debt.

Meredith Levenson writes in CIO Magazine about RFID.

Two years ago, 7-Eleven piloted a VIP (Virtual Instant Payment) card at the 7-Eleven store inside the company's corporate headquarters in Dallas and at a store in Plano, Texas. The VIP card was equipped with an RFID chip and functioned like a debit or credit card. By waving her VIP card near an RFID reader by the cash register, a customer could pay for purchases without having to stand in line or fumble through her purse or swipe her debit card through a reader (at just the right speed)—much as ExxonMobil customers use an RFID-enabled SpeedPass to pay for gasoline. This was the company's first foray into RFID, and it helped CIO Morrow understand what system changes he needed to make in order to integrate this new application with the company's back-end systems.

Don Oldenburg reports in the Washington Post on one recent phishing attempt over the phone.

When he asks you to read him the three-digit purchase code from the back of your card so he can "verify you are in possession of your card" and make sure it hasn't been lost or stolen, you cooperate. After all, he's not asking for your credit-card number -- which you know better than to give to a stranger.

The Bangkok Post questions the Thai government's plans to issue ID cards containing smart cards to Thai citizens.

The best that can be said is the government has good intentions and poor implementation. No other country moving to smart ID cards has made them mandatory. The government needs to back off this plan to issue cards in April, and start with much lower ambitions. Smart ID cards must be voluntary, perhaps for years to come, to permit project bugs to be ironed out. The government must explain the project and protect security far better that it has done.

New Hampshire's Union Leader profiles Park Smart Technologies, a Hampton Falls, NH-based company hoping to bring cards to parking meters.

Using an “e-purse” technology developed by a partner in Dublin, Ireland, Park Smart makes use of a secure “pre-paid stored value card” that holds a specific dollar amount. The card can be easily inserted in newly built parking meters or those that have been modified to accept the plastic. While “smart card” technology has been around since the late 1970s, it’s gone largely unused by the parking industry.

In this morning's New York Times, Landon Thomas Jr. profiles Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon -- following the announcement earlier this week of Dimon's merger of Bank One with JP Morgan Chase.   » Continue Reading

The community bank oriented Independent Community Bankers of America is concerned about the implications of large bank mergers on the industry.

"These mergers have enormous public policy implications. First, the trillion dollar banks that will result from these megamergers will be too big to regulate effectively," said Ken Guenther, President of ICBA. "Secondly, these banks will be too big to fail and therefore will pose a systemic risk to the FDIC's Bank Insurance Fund."

Guenther also predicts that, following these mergers, the largest banks will attempt to amend the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act which prohibits a bank merger if the resulting bank would control more than 10 percent of the deposits in the United States. "Community banks will resist any attempt to increase the 10 percent cap imposed by the Riegle-Neal Act or to broaden the definition of "deposit" under that Act," said Guenther.

Arizona Republic columnist Jon Talton shares his personal perspective on bank mergers from the Phoenix perspective.

I spent the gaudiest years of the roaring '90s as a financial journalist in Charlotte, N.C., while the hometown banks conquered America. Charlotte became the nation's second most important banking center, after New York, and this dull Southern city was transformed into a rich, glittery metropolis. Every merger showered Charlotte with power, capital and high salaries.

Eric Reguly reports in the Globe and Mail on merger possibilities among the major Canadian banks.

Given the size differential, it's absurd to argue mergers among the Canadian banks would turn them into competitive, international players. Through no fault of Ottawa, that game was lost years -- maybe decades -- ago. The only debate now is whether the Canadian banks should strive to become solid third-tier players or give up entirely and hit the sell button.

CDC Group has announced that Visa International CEO Malcolm Williamson will become Chairman of CDC.

Martin Wolk reports on MSNBC about the growth in credit card debt in the US.

The latest GonzoBanker newsletter from Cornerstone Advisors includes an article by Steve Williams that examines the commoditization of the online banking vendor market.

Banks continue to grow confident in their ability to manage Web applications. With budget pressures abounding in 2004 and banks searching for cost reductions, Internet banking vendors need to realize that the old game is over and a new model must emerge for the long term.

Jennifer Bayot of the New York Times reports on likely new terms for consumers holding credit cards from either J. P. Morgan Chase or Bank One as a result of the upcoming merger.

However the card is branded, it will most likely come with new terms. "Watch your mailbox," said Robert Hammer, a credit card industry consultant. "If you've never read a disclosure before, you'll want to read it now."

CBS MarketWatch reports on National Processing Company's earnings call today -- and, more importantly, on the company providing 2004 guidance which has no growth over 2003. The company's stock dropped 16.5% on the news. Jon Gorney, CEO, blamed the lack of growth on national merchant contract pricing challenges.

The New York Times reports on the impact on Chicago of the Bank One merger with JP Morgan Chase.

"Chicago sealed its fate 20 years ago," said Anil Kashyap, a professor of economics and finance at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. "The state had very restrictive banking laws. So, many banks moved to places like North Carolina. And that's proved to be irreversible. Chicago is no longer a major banking center."

The Wall St. Journal reports on how some consumers are using the purchase of gift cards to rack up mileage points on their credit cards.

One way people are using the gift cards is to buy money orders at the post office or Wal-Mart and then deposit them into their bank accounts. They can then use that money to pay their credit-card bill, and start the process over again.

According to the article, Cleveland-based CharterOne Financial is the primary source of the MasterCard-branded gift cards. Unlike other banks selling gift cards, CharterOne isn't charging fees for issuing the cards.

The Wall St. Journal's Heard on the Street column for Thursday reviews the potential candidates for acquisition/merger following Wednesday's announcement of the JP Morgan Chase / Bank One merger.

Among the remaining potential names on the dance card are Detroit-based Comerica Inc., KeyCorpin Cleveland, U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, SunTrust Banks Inc., in Atlanta, National City Corp. of Cleveland, Sovereign Bancorp Inc. of Wyomissing, Pa., Union Planters Corp. of Memphis, Tenn., and SouthTrust Corp. of Birmingham, Ala.

The official press release on the JP Morgan Chase / Bank One merger is now available.   » Continue Reading

Bank One has introduced an impressive email alert capability which can inform customers of all sorts of activity on their checking, savings or credit card accounts. About nine months ago, Russ Jones posted an opinion piece asking for just this kind of service. He was delighted to learn that this new service had recently been made available.

Washington Mutual has announced that it will be trialing the sale of $1,000 CD's using an auction process powered by eBay.

During the promotion, approximately 600 six-month CDs of $1,000 each will be made available for bidding during a six-week period, with approximately 100 CDs listed each week. Shoppers will be able to bid on the interest rate of their CDs -- with bidding starting at higher interest rates, and subsequent bids bringing down the interest rate until the auction listing closes. If the final bid meets an undisclosed reserve, the successful bidder is expected to get a competitive interest rate on his or her CD.

To view the WAMU CD auction site, see: http://www.wamucdauction.com.

The New York Times is reporting that JP Morgan Chase is acquiring Bank One in a deal worth $60 billion.

There are big potential implications for the industry from this deal. Combining Chase's card business with that of Bank One on the issuer side plus the combination of Chase Merchant Services with Bank One's majority ownership of Paymentech. Big implications for Visa and MasterCard too -- Bank One has been a Visa loyalist, Chase a MasterCard loyalist. Wow!

Amazingly, sale of cellular telephone ring tones has jumped 40 per cent in the past year to $3.5 billion in sales. Purchasing of ring tones is currently the predominant form of mobile commerce being done by consumers.

Harris Interactive has released the results of a survey of consumers regarding debit cards that was sponsored by MasterCard.

According to the survey, convenience, security and ease-of-use are significant factors behind consumers' choice to use debit cards.

Visa USA has announced Visa Extras, a new payment card rewards program to help Visa member financial institutions deliver new rewards opportunities to consumer and small business cardholders -- particularly for everyday expenditures, such as travel, office supplies, groceries, gas, bills, clothing, dining and entertainment.

"Increasingly, today's consumers and small business owners are turning to Visa payment cards because of the overall value they provide versus paying with cash or checks, which don't provide any additional benefit," said Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president Visa USA.

"You don't need to be a big spender to benefit from Visa Extras as the program is specifically designed to reward cardholders for the personal and business expenditures they make every day at the places where they like to use their Visa cards."

For more details, see: http://www.visa.com/visaextras. [Note: I just tried to enroll an Amazon/BankOne Visa card -- it wasn't eligible to participate in the Visa Extras program.]

Graeme Smith reports in Canada's Globe and Mail on McDonald's restaurants in Winnipeg using biometric palm scanners to replace time clocks for employee check-in/out.

The most common biometric terminals look like miniature bank machines, about the size of a breadbox. As a first step, an employee must usually type in a personal identification number or swipe a pass card. That calls up an encoded image of their hand, which the machine uses for comparison with the employee's handprint. They can replace door locks and time clocks, and track an employee's habits.

John Edwards, a dealer at Amano Cincinnati, a time-systems manufacturer based in Mississauga, Ont., said sales of biometric systems surpassed those of pass-card time clocks this year. "It's outselling my swipe-card terminals 10 to one."

Julia Cheney of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's Payment Card Center has published a white paper summarizing the results of a recent workshop on identity theft (PDF).

The Jerusalem Post reports that POS terminal supplier Lipman has filed for an IPO in the US.

Lipman, the world's fourth-largest supplier of electronic-payment products, said it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer 3m. ordinary shares, of which 2.25m. are being offered by Lipman and 750,000 by selling shareholders. The offering is expected to be completed in the last week of January.

Viewpointe reports that its bank customers retrieved over 650 million check images from its image archive during 2003.

 "We are very excited about the level at which imaging has taken off," said John Lettko, Viewpointe's Chairman and CEO. "When Viewpointe was created, it was with the certainty that checking would make the historic move into electronics, and that Viewpointe would create a superior solution that provided customers with many options as the industry transformed. We have since confirmed the value of our unique image sharing solution and expanded our archive capacity to address anticipated demand as Check 21 becomes law. By extending our shared national archive far beyond basic image storage services, working to develop products and services our customers will need to execute image sharing and exchange, and delivering operational excellence that is unmatched in the industry, we are fulfilling our charter and providing options that ease our customers through this transition to electronic check processing."

MapInfo shares some of its research on where credit cards are most popular.

"Understanding credit card usage in specific regions and markets can give businesses tremendous insight into the consumer, behavioral and lifestyle attributes of a particular population," said Chris Michels, PSYTE product manager for MapInfo.

"Following the holiday shopping season, when consumers tend to pull out their credit cards to make purchases more often, this analysis provides some timely profiles of particularly active markets. With MapInfo's PSYTE, companies can make more accurate predictions about consumer buying and lifestyle behavior and identify new potential markets or untapped areas within existing markets."

Detroit Free Press writer Greta Guest reports from the National Retail Federation show in New York this week on the Future Store, a store developed by the German Metro Group that experiments with new retail technologies.

Feedback from shoppers has been extremely positive, said Zygmunt Mierdorf, Metro Group chief information officer. He said the store has seen double-digit increases in sales and a 30-percent increase in traffic.

The store's most important new technology is RFID.

AuctionBytes reports on modifications PayPal is making to its user agreement, payments policy and other terms.

Fundtech reports that, based upon the results of a recent survey of wholesale banking executives, outsourcing remains a top priority with more than half indicating they expected to increase spending on outsourced applications and processing.

Glenbrook's Russ Jones has just posted a new opinion piece on RFID in financial services.

If implemented properly, with a careful eye on the special requirements of the financial services industry, RFID holds great promise. But if deployed prematurely or before all the privacy ramifications are understood, it might also provide some nasty and unfortunate surprises.

Consumer Reports has posted an article from its February 2004 issue advising consumers how best to dispute charges on their credit card bills.

Our examination of the regulations and interviews with Federal Reserve attorneys, regulators, card issuers, and consumers found that dispute rules are confusing, card issuers sometimes skirt them, and many consumers misunderstand the rights that they do and don’t have.

The staff of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, National Credit Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the United States Department of the Treasury have issued a list of frequently asked questions addressing the application of Customer Identification Program rules.

Elizabeth Millard reports in Ecommerce Times on micropayments.

In other micropayments news, Peppercoin has announced a deal with Smithsonian Folkways to make its entire collection of 33,000 American folk songs available online to consumers for 99 cents per song.

VIVOtech has announced VIVOgiftcard, a contactless gift card solution for retailers.

 "The market for gift cards is immense and constitutes a critical element for adding revenues and growing a retailer's business. Gift cards are the fastest growing segment in the payment space with sales expected to total $36 to $38 billion for 2002, up 20% from the prior year. Gift cards account for 5% or more of total sales at major retailers," said Jorge Fernandes, CEO and co-founder of ViVOtech.

"Now, for the first time, retailers can differentiate their gift card product, enhance loyalty programs and provide a means to measure these programs. And they can help consumers at the same time by solving the wallet share problem and offering a delightful payment experience -- fast, flexible, secure and extremely convenient."

Visa USA has announced Visa Information Management, a new web-based portal service that offers organizations increased visibility of their procurement and payment data and enhanced reporting tools for Visa commercial transactions.

The Visa Information Management portal provides Visa's financial institutions with a sophisticated Web-service technology that makes it easier for their business customers to integrate Visa reporting tools into existing organizational processes and improve their procurement and payment procedures.

The service, which can be used either on its own or in conjunction with custom developed solutions from Visa's leading financial institutions, helps businesses and government agencies achieve greater efficiency and lower their administrative overheads.

The Telegraph reports from Calcutta on the Indian government's plans to introduce smart cards for drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations.

The smart card, very handy in shape and size, made of a special type of plastic with a computer chip, will have all the details of the vehicle and the owner. Besides, there will be details of tax dues, certificate of fitness and insurance and pollution clearance. Punching the card in a master computer, to be installed in the PVD office, will display all the details of a vehicle on the computer screen. Similarly, the driving licence cards will contain the details of the holder, apart from its validity period.

Kathy Kristof reports in this morning's Los Angeles Times on payday lenders.

The payday lending industry, virtually nonexistent a decade ago, accounts for roughly $25 billion annually in loans, according to a recent study. More than 90% of payday loans are made to repeat borrowers such as Monti, whose short-term cash crisis was only worsened by the quick fix.

The article goes on to say:

The typical annual effective percentage rates on payday loans range from 391% to 443%, according to a study (PDF) released last month by the Center for Responsible Lending. Payday lenders get around state usury laws by characterizing the cost as a fee rather than an interest rate.

The Bangkok Post reports on government action in Thailand to ensure that smart card production happens locally in Thailand and doesn't rely on imports.

The Science and Technology Ministry will request cabinet approval for one billion baht to enable Thailand to produce smart cards instead of relying on imports. ``I would not like to let the project slip away because this is a job Thai people can do,'' Minister Chetta Thanajaro said on Friday, when he visited Thai Microelectronics Centre (TMEC), a state agency which could produce microchips to be imbedded in the cards.

David Lazarus reports in the San Francisco Chronicle on credit card debt in the US.

Meanwhile, the nation's credit card debt has soared to $735 billion, or almost $7,000 per household. Of this sum, the American Bankers Association said that a record 4.09 percent of card payments were past due in the third quarter of 2003, up from 4.04 percent in the previous three months. The association said this reflects a rising number of unemployed people using their plastic to get by.

A closer look at the Federal Reserve's latest monthly release of consumer credit outstanding shows that growth in revolving credit has been essentially flat for the last couple of months and, in fact, declined slightly in November (the most recent reporting period).

Adobe and other makers of image-manipulation programs have, at the behest of a little-known group of national banks, inserted secret technology into their programs to foil counterfeiting, the companies acknowledged this week.

The code to detect such images came from the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, a low-profile association representing the national banks from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The Green Sheet reports on micropayments.

The concept of online 'micropayments' for small-amount online purchases is not new, but is once again gaining a real foothold in the world of e-commerce. The difference now is that a handful of micropayment providers are using the existing payment infrastructure (i.e. debit and credit cards) to process the tiny transactions.

Israel-based GLOBES [online] reports on the latest financing round by E4X, a provider of multi-currency services to online merchants and partners. The company's press release provides more details.

Finextra reports on Visa EU's new fraud detection system - Visor.

Visor combines Fair Isaac's Falcon Fraud Manager system and Fraud Predictor with Merchant Profiles product with the VisaNet processing system. The system analyses card transactions to deliver a risk score by monitoring the spending behaviour of each cardholder along with the profile of each merchant.