Business Week looks at the Citibank / American Express deal.

Now that two of the biggest card-issuers are on board with American Express, it puts competitive pressure on other banks to sign on.

Next convert? Observers are putting their money on J.P. Morgan Chase, which has 92 million U.S. cardholders that American Express would like the opportunity to court.

Update: Jennifer Kingson reports on the Amex/Citi card issuing alliance in Tuesday's New York Times.

American Express this afternoon announced its second major US bank card issuing alliance with Citibank.

Last week the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a list of consumer tips regarding gift cards (PDF).

Remember that a gift card is like a loan: you are giving money to the company that holds the value of the card until you use it, and they are promising to give that money back when you ask for it. Make sure you know who is standing behind that promise, and remember that you are putting your trust in that company (and its financial stability).

JP Morgan Treasury Services has announced it has been selected by MetLife to provide its Order-to-Pay Service to streamline its procure-to-pay cycle.

Wachovia has announced the introduction of a new receivables service, Remote Desktop Capture, that enables the remote capture and transmission of paper checks for deposit.

AuctionBytes.com's Ina Steiner reports on the expansion of PayPal acceptance beyond eBay.

Steve Chawkins reports in the Los Angeles Times on Walter Cavanagh, the king of credit cards with 1,496 active cards.

At heart, the 61-year-old retired financial planner is a one-card guy. And, unlike the average American household, which carries more than $9,000 in credit card debt at any time, Cavanagh pays off his card (whose lender he would not disclose) in full each and every month.

Bob Tedeschi reports in the New York Times on some difficulties that online ecommerce sites have experienced this holiday shopping season.