The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has released its 2006-2008 Strategic Plan (PDF).

Selena Maranjain writes for the Motley Fool about the $24 billion spent on credit card fees in 2004, up 18 percent from 2003 according to CardTrak.com.

Perhaps the most un-Foolish fee I've heard of is the "no-balance fee," where some cards are charging a small fee if you pay off your bill in full -- which is what you should be doing!

VeriSign has released the fifth edition of the VeriSign Internet Security Intelligence Briefing reporting that Internet commerce last year grew 88 percent by dollar volume and 39 percent by transaction volume.

Susan Kuchinskas reports for Internetnews.com on Visa USA's announcement of Visa Contactless and the implications for RFID-based consumer payments.

"Credit card issuers will be the initial dominant wave of providing electronic credit cards for digital commerce," said Jorge Fernandes, chairman of ViVOtech. "In a second wave, a lot of retailers will leverage this technology to create a closer relationship with consumers. Digital credit cards will let consumes identify themselves to merchants and let merchants communicate with them."

Slashdot also picks up a discussion about Visa's announcement.

Bank of America has issued a press release confirming that "a small number of computer data tapes were lost during shipment to a backup data center. The missing tapes contained U.S. federal government charge card program customer and account information."

"We deeply regret this unfortunate incident,” said Barbara Desoer, Global Technology, Service & Fulfillment executive for Bank of America. “The privacy of customer information receives the highest priority at Bank of America, and we take our responsibilities for safeguarding it very seriously.”

Timothy Burger reports on Time.com about Bank of America today warning the holders of at least 1.2 million of its federal employee credit card accounts of a potential security breach that may have left their account information exposed.

MasterCard has announced that its chip card solutions are ready for implementation in the Canadian market. But it's not clear when actual chip card deployment might begin.   » Continue Reading

Forbes.com profiles the trend of quick service restaurants to accept plastic card payments.

Visa USA has announced that it has completed the development of its contactless payment platform and is ready to begin deployment in the US market.

"After successful trials in several regions of the world, we feel we have the right solution and this is the right time for Visa to make contactless technology available in the U.S. market," said Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president, product development and management, Visa USA.  "We want to make sure our Members and merchants have the ability to offer current innovations to their customers, if they choose to do so."

The Anti-Phishing Working Group is reporting that phishing attacks against smaller financial institutions are escalating.

"Overall, the survey and recent field reports tell us that phishers are using advanced crimeware to commandeer larger arrays of Internet technologies and at the same time using them to attack smaller institutions than have been targeted," said APWG Chairman David Jevans.

Jevans added, "It could mean the counter-phishing systems that big banks have deployed are effective and the phishers are moving onto softer targets. It could mean the phishers have enough resources to target institutions in which the probabilities of getting a hit on a broad spam-based attack is relatively low."

Evan Schuman writes in eWeek about the expansion of RFID-based contactless payments. [Tnx: Eric Meyerson]

Credit card companies, through consumer promotions and lower fees for retailers, have been whittling away at the last few cash-friendly refuges. And as though George Washington needed even more disrespect to be heaped upon his picture on the one-dollar-bill, contactless payment systems are now helping to take the green out of greenbacks.

Stephen Bartholomeusz writes in Melbourne's The Age about the Reserve Bank of Australia's actions regarding interchange fees.

The Reserve Bank's painful and painstaking attempts to reform interchange fees for electronic payments is inching towards its logical conclusion. Within two years it is probable that the fees banks and retailers pay themselves for credit card, Eftpos and other electronic transactions will be abolished.

That isn't quite what the RBA said yesterday when it issued draft standards for Eftpos and Visa debit card transactions under which fees would be slashed. It is, however, clearly the direction in which the RBA is heading, and it will inform its planned review of all card systems in 2007.

The Reserve Bank issued a press release yesterday on the subject including draft standards for the EFTPOS and Visa Debit systems.

In the Bank's opinion, the current levels of these fees are not conducive to the efficiency of the Australian payments system. In reaching this opinion, the Bank has considered not just the EFTPOS and Visa Debit systems, but also their interaction with other payment systems, including credit cards. It has also considered how the overall payments system is likely to evolve over time if the current incentives facing merchants, financial institutions and cardholders are left unchanged.

The RBA also announced it is seeking input on how to address the problem of credit card schemes with higher interchange fees being more attractive to issuers and asks whether essentially the same interchange fee should therefore be applied to all schemes.

First Data Corp. announced this morning that it was increasing the dividend paid on its common stock as well as increasing the stock buyback authorization by $2 billion.

Coinstar has announced a gift card mall program for retailers.   » Continue Reading

Ann All reports in ATM Marketplace.com on Visa USA's decision to create two categories of ATM interchange.

Visa made the change after determining that there were "significant differences in ATM portfolios, in terms of cost, security and cardholder value," said Stacy Pinkerd, senior vice president of Visa's Consumer Debit Products.

Ted Griffith reports for DelawareOnline.com about yesterday's investor briefing by executives of JP Morgan Chase's credit card unit.   » Continue Reading

JP Morgan Chase is holding an investor presentation today beginning at 1 PM EST. The presentation slides (PDF) are available online.   » Continue Reading

Ingenico and Transfirst have announced they are partnering on a prepaid and stored value program to be launched by New York Community Bank.

The prepaid and stored value services program, available through TRANSFIRST's and Ingenico's partnership, will enable New York Community Bank to offer its customers credit card cash advance, prepaid long distance and prepaid wireless services, as well as Visa branded gift cards and MasterCard branded stored value debit cards.

US News & World Report briefly profiles Visa USA CEO Carl Pascarella.

The reason for the growth, Pascarella says, is choice. No matter how consumers want to pay--even possibly using their cellphones or personal digital assistants in the future--Visa is striving to offer a convenient option.

Dina ElBoghdady writes in the Washington Post about the use of card payments for low value purchases.

Robin Sidel reports in the Wall St. Journal that JP Morgan Chase will move much of its fast-growing debit card business to the Visa brand.

The decision solidifies Visa USA Inc.'s existing dominant relationship with J.P. Morgan, which is now the nation's largest issuer of credit cards. It also is significant because much of the card industry's growth is expected to come from debit cards.

MasterCard has announced it is working with MBNA, the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens Football Clubs to incorporate MasterCard PayPass contactless payment technology into the MBNA Seahawks and MBNA Ravens Extra Points credit card programs. Both Qwest Field and M&T Bank Stadium will accept MasterCard PayPass cards at the point-of-sale, beginning with the 2005 football season.   » Continue Reading

Investors Business Daily takes a look at Portfolio Recovery Associations, one of the publicly traded debt collection companies.   » Continue Reading

ABI Research has announced the availability of a new study of RFID contactless payments.

JP Morgan Chase has announced that it will continue to issue credit, debit,and commercial cards through both Visa USA and MasterCard International. JPMorgan Chase said it will also retain its positions on Visa U.S.A.'s board consistent with association rules that prohibit dual board representation.

Tomorrow at 1 PM EST William Campbell, Chase Card Services' Chairman, and Richard Srednicki, Card Services' CEO, will be presenting a webcast update on Chase's Card Services business.

Update: An Associated Press story includes some additional commentary on the Chase announcement.   » Continue Reading

SVPCO Check Services has announced the launch of SVPCO National Check Exchange, a new national check clearing service that "provides participating institutions with the ability to exchange checks across regions more efficiently, following a universal set of rules."   » Continue Reading

Peppercoin has announced an agreement with SunTrust Merchant Services to offer Peppercoin's small paymnet processing system to its merchants.   » Continue Reading

Robin Langford reports in Netimperative on PayPal's growth in the UK to 6.3 million accounts.

The company launched its UK-site in 2003 and became regulated as an Electronic Money Issuer by the FSA in February 2004. In 2004 it introduced an ACH-in system, enabling customers to fund PayPal transactions directly from their bank accounts.

Richard Wilner reports in the New York Post on Wal-Mart's financial services focus including its recently announced deal to issue a Wal-Mart Discover card.

The country's No. 1 retailer is expected to roll out its much-anticipated Wal-Mart Discover card today — complete with a 3-cent per gallon discount at company gas stations and interest rates as low as 9.87 percent.

Separately, Wal-Mart issued a press release announcing the launch of the new card.

"Wal-Mart Discover is designed especially for credit card customers who want to save money. It has great features like cash back, gasoline discounts and low rates," Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart Financial Services, said.

"Our focus to date has been on basic money services for those without credit cards and checking accounts," she continued. "These basic services are saving our customers $2 million a week. The new Wal-Mart Discover shows our commitment to widen our services to help all our customers save money and improve their lives."

TSYS has announced that it has implemented a gift card program for Hunkemoller, a specialty retailer in the Netherlands with outlets in several other European countries.   » Continue Reading

Reuters reports on growth in magnetic stripe payment card skimming in Japan and the implications for Japanese consumers.

Australia's Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) is funding an exploratory study examining future developments in the Australian electronic payments market.

ChoicePoint has released a prepared statement addressing the recently publicized incident that occurred last fall where fraudsters accessed ChoicePoint's databases by using stolen identities to appear to be legitimate customers.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been following this issue and has a separate page on its website dedicated to various issues with ChoicePoint.

Xinhua Finance has announced that it is working with FreeStar Technology to market FreeStar's prepaid debit card technology in China.   » Continue Reading

The federal bank and credit union regulatory agencies have announced final joint guidance to assist institutions in the disclosure and administration of overdraft protection programs.

In response to concerns about the marketing, disclosure, and implementation of these programs, the agencies published for comment proposed interagency guidance on overdraft protection programs in June 2004. The final joint guidance responds to comments received by consumer and community groups, individual consumers, depository institutions, trade associations, vendors offering overdraft protection products, other industry representatives, and state agencies. The final joint guidance contains three primary sections: Safety and Soundness Considerations; Legal Risks; and Best Practices.

[Update: This offer has ended. This article remains posted for historical archive purposes.]

Citibank has reintroduced its Apple iPod Mini promotion for opening and funding a new Citibank checking account.   » Continue Reading

Reuters reports on Discover's growth strategies including entering new international markets, partnering with banks to issue Discover cards, and debit following its recent purchase of the Pulse EFT network.

ExxonMobil and GE Consumer Finance have announced the launch of new ExxonMobil Consumer and Business Credit Cards. The announced says the cards will incorporate new and enhanced fraud deterrent technology but provides no details.   » Continue Reading

Wells Fargo has announced the introduction of "My Spending Report", a consolidated report of a consumer's personal spending across all of the consumer's payment activities with the bank.   » Continue Reading

Nova Information Systems has announced that it has acquired SouthTrust's merchant portfolio from Wachovia Bank and has also renewed and extended a long-term marketing alliance agreement for Wachovia's merchant referral business.

Wachovia has been pleased with NOVA's continued strong performance in delivering payment processing services and support to our customers," said Terry Terbrueggen, Senior Vice President, Wachovia Bank. "NOVA's robust product portfolio and powerful network infrastructure allow SouthTrust's merchant customers to take advantage of enhanced service levels and new value-added applications."

"NOVA's success stems from our strong commitment to provide the best possible service to our customers," said Pamela Joseph, president, chairman and chief executive officer, NOVA Information Systems. "We're pleased that a financial institution of Wachovia's caliber continues to turn to NOVA as a true merchant processing partner. SouthTrust's merchant customers will benefit from the speed and reliability of the NOVA Network, and will have access to a robust portfolio of solutions, fitting the needs of a wide variety of merchant businesses."

MasterCard has announced that Marriott will begin participating in April in its enhanced hotel folio data program. With the MasterCard enhanced hotel folio data program, corporations have access to room, tax, meal, telephone and business center fees, among other itemized expense details. The transactions are presented back to the corporation electronically and on its monthly invoice, streamlining expense analysis, management reporting and the accounts payable process.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced an enhanced World MasterCard card program that allows card issuers to offer a uniquely customizable array of incentives to their cardholders.

"The enhanced World MasterCard program is a living demonstration of taking a winning approach and making it even better," said Ruth Ann Marshall, president of the Americas, MasterCard International.

"The new World MasterCard program underscores MasterCard's commitment to the affluent segment as we work with our issuers to provide cardholders with rewards and incentives specifically tailored to their needs and interests."

Card acceptance pricing for merchants of this new card program was not discussed in the announcement.   » Continue Reading

RBC Royal Bank and Starbucks Coffee have announced the Starbucks Duetto Visa Card for Canadians.   » Continue Reading

VeriSign has released ecommerce data analyzing online shopping activity in the period leading up to Valentine's Day earlier this week that showed a 30 percent increase in online spending this year vs. last.

"The growth in online sales for jewelry is a key indicator of increased consumer confidence in spending more money online," said Trevor Healy, vice president, payment services, VeriSign.

"With diamonds showing the highest increase in online revenue during the Valentine's Day shopping season, we not only see that consumers are comfortable making big-ticket purchases online, but also buying sentimental and significant items through secured e-commerce sites. This proves that online shopping has progressed past basic items, such as books and CDs, thus opening new sales opportunities for merchants from all categories."

Robin Sidel reports in the Wall St. Journal that JP Morgan Chase will be meeting with investors next week to discuss its credit and debit card business. At the meeting the bank is expect to announced how it will split up the card business between Visa USA and MasterCard.

Chase has posted the details for the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 23. This presentation will be hosted by William Campbell, Card Services' Chairman, and Richard Srednicki, Card Services' Chief Executive Officer.

The Smart Card Alliance has announced a white paper that contrasts RFID tags and contactless smart cards for ePassport and payment applications. A PDF version of the paper is available online.   » Continue Reading

RSA Security has announced the RSA Authentication Service, a consumer-focused offering that sets up RSA as the central authenticator between consumers (suitably equipped with RSA hardware or software tokens) and their online services.

Until now, users and businesses have been forced to work with a variety of disparate authentication methods of varying strength – resulting in confusion, a lack of adoption, and inadequate levels of security that have left consumers vulnerable to identity theft and other scams. RSA Security believes that, by enabling the use of a single credential that is available in a wide range of form-factors and accepted at a potentially unlimited number of sites, many existing problems can be removed.

RSA Security has announced the results of a consumer study that concludes that consumers are increasingly reluctant to conduct personal business online due to security concerns.

The study also asked for opinions relating to traditional user ID/password security schemes, with more than half of all respondents (53 percent) believing that these do not provide enough protection for online information. According to the survey, poor management of PINs and passwords for access to online services, desktop computer systems, ATMs and other electronic accounts is a major vulnerability. More than two in three respondents (65 percent) use fewer than five passwords for all electronic information access, and 15 percent use a single password for everything.

Biometric Access Company has announced that a new development alliance with VeriFone to certify its biometric identity verification solutions with VeriFone's electronic payment solutions for the multi-lane retail industry.   » Continue Reading

Billeo has announced the launch of a new bill pay service that uses toolbar technology coupled with back-end web services technologies to make consumer use of biller-direct websites much more convenient.   » Continue Reading

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has announced that its fifth payments conference, "Innovations, Incentives and Regulation: Forces Shaping the Payments Environment", will be held May 18-19 in Chicago.

Peppercoin has announced that it has been selected by Mashbox to enable the sale of low-priced music profitably.   » Continue Reading

WholeSecurity has announced the launch of the Phish Report Network, a global anti-phishing aggregation service. Initial participants in the new business service include Microsoft, eBay, PayPal, and Visa.

Paul Wenske writes in the Kansas City Star about rewards cards.

Scotland's Sunday Herald reports on concerns in Scotland about credit card debt in people under age 30.

Jackson blamed our materialistic and increasingly consumer-driven society. He said: “Lifestyle expectations have soared. The ‘buy now, pay later’ ethos has been readily adopted by the younger generations, perhaps as a result of targeted advertising. Regardless of whether they can afford it, many people are enhancing their lifestyle and funding their purchases by means of credit.”

We're delighted to announce that Jay DeWitt has joined Glenbrook as our newest partner. Most recently, Jay headed Global Payments at Amazon.com where he was responsible for this prominent e-tailer's payment acceptance strategies and operations. Jay is located in Glenbrook's Menlo Park office.   » Continue Reading

We submitted our comments to the FDIC this afternoon on its Account-Hijacking Identity Theft Study released in mid-December. A PDF of our comments is available online.

Tom Smith writes in Speech Technology Magazine about Fort Knox National Company's use of voice technologies to deliver voice e-payments in a cost-efficient manner.

Troy Critchelow, vice president of product management, Fort Knox National Company, said, “Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology holds the key to allowing billers to benefit from consumer adoption of electronic payments and payment automation.  Through the use of ASR, telephone payment transactions can now be fully automated.  And given consumers’ preferences for voice interfaces, billers can exponentially cut the number of customers who opt-out to costly operators to make telephone payments.”

Are you a payments professional living in the San Francisco Bay Area?

With some friends, we're exploring starting a payments professionals' networking group for the San Francisco area that we're calling BayPay.

Let us know if you're interested in learning more about BayPay.   » Continue Reading

PayPal's CEO Jeff Jordan reviewed the company's performance at today's eBay analyst meeting. He reported that PayPal's share of 2004 consumer ecommerce volume as 9 percent in the US and 5 percent globally.

He also reported on the deal announced last year with GE Consumer Finance to launch PayPal Buyer Credit with $28 MM of PayPal purchases using Buyer Credit in the fourth quarter of 2004.

Here's an interesting slide from today's presentation that how PayPal segments the off-eBay merchant opportunity.   » Continue Reading

Visa USA today introduced its small business spending forecast and segmentation analysis. The small business segment - businesses with under $25 million in annual sales - accounts for one-third of all expenditures by businesses in the United States. According to Visa's CCE analysis, non-payroll spending by U.S. small businesses will increase an estimated 5.4 percent this year to $4.7 trillion, and expand further to reach $5.3 trillion in 2008.

The Stanford Daily reports on the recent implementation of PassMark Security by the Stanford Federal Credit Union.

“When you log on, you see a picture and a pass phrase at random,” said Sam Tuohey, vice president of e-commerce and technology for the SFCU. “If you think that’s fine, you can do that. Otherwise, you can upload your own picture or browse the images online.”

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has announced the results of a survey of online banking users (PDF) completed in November 2004.

Fifty-three million people, or 44% of internet users and one-quarter of all adults, now say they use online banking. Those figures amount to an increase of 47% over the number of Americans who were performing online banking in late 2002. Of all the major internet activities tracked by the Project since its inaugural survey in March 2000, online banking has grown the fastest. Internet users with high-speed connections, those with six or more years of experience, and those between 28-39 years old are the most likely to bank online.

Cyota has announced eVision, a proprietary online risk management solution that detects, analyzes, scores and manages online banking and online services in real-time.

ID Analytics has announced new results from its statistical research into identity fraud that highlights that synthetic identities are more commonly used to commit identity fraud than true-name identities. The company estimates that synthetic identity fraud comprises 88.3 percent of all identity fraud events and 73.8 percent of the total dollars lost by U.S. businesses.   » Continue Reading

PC Advisor reports that MasterCard is planning to add an SMS option to its fraud detection system that would allow credit card customers to be alerted when risky transactions are suspected.

Ron Lieber reports in the Wall St. Journal on plans by Citigroup to launch the Chairman card to compete with the American Express Platinum card.

Nokia has announced a new Near Field Communications (NFC) shell for the Nokia 3220 phone that will enable consumers to conduct local purchase transactions.

"Visa is always looking for exciting, first-rate innovations that advance the field of contactless payment and we are pleased to join forces with Nokia in this pioneering effort," said Jim Lee, senior vice president, Product Technology and Standards, Visa International. "The development of the Nokia NFC shell serves as a natural extension of Visa's contactless card and phone programs around the world. Moreover, it aligns well with Visa's commitment to enabling payments anywhere, anytime, through any device."

"We are pleased that Nokia is developing technology that will support MasterCard(R) PayPass contactless payment technology in a mobile handset. This is a natural extension to the successful PayPass market trial that we carried out together in Dallas, Texas in 2003. MasterCard's research has consistently shown that consumers are interested in using their mobile phones for making convenient payments in the future," said Richard Fletcher, senior vice president, Mobile and Wireless Centre of Excellence, MasterCard International.

Paul Nowell reports for the Associated Press on recent changes by two major credit card issuers, MBNA and Bank of America, to tighten payment requirements in response to suggestions by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.   » Continue Reading

Dana Flavelle reports in the Toronto Star on the growth in Visa transactions in Canada.

Among credit card issuers, VISA holds 38 per cent of the Canadian market, followed by MasterCard with 17 per cent, American Express at 5 per cent and Diner's Club with less than 1 per cent. But all of them are eclipsed by Interac, which accounted for 40 per cent of purchase volumes, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks payment methods.

Barrie McKenna writes in the Globe and Mail about the growth in acceptance of card-based payments in several emerging market segments including fast food restaurants.

These and other new markets for credit and debit cards recently pushed the United States past a historic threshold. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board reported in December that electronic payments exceeded cheque payments for the first time ever. Debit cards account for much of the trend, with transactions rising 24 per cent between 2000 and 2003.

One of the fast-growing areas of card purchases are small transactions, or micropayments. With Apple Computer's iTunes selling for 99 cents, no amount is too small.

Visa USA has announced that sales volume on Visa-branded cards grew to a record $1.045 trillion in calendar year 2004, a 19.1 percent increase over 2003. Consumer credit card sales volume grew more than 11 percent to $517 billion while Visa's debit card sales volume grew 19.7 percent to $346 billion.

"By any measure, 2004 was a record year for Visa USA and our Members," said Carl Pascarella, president and CEO of Visa USA. "Visa's performance last year is proof that we continue to deliver what consumers and businesses value most - payments that are convenient, secure and accepted at an unsurpassed number of locations worldwide. That's why Visa continues to be the payments brand that cardholders turn to most often."

Visa USA has announced the results of a new study that has identified a consumer category of "new affluents" who trade prestige and luxury for value, pragmatism and the adventure of doing more with what they have.

"The power and potential of this consumer group is enormous," said Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president, product development and management, Visa USA.

"The more clearly we understand their beliefs and needs as distinct and different from earlier models of wealth, the more effective we can be in helping our Members and merchants unlock this potential."

MoPay, the South African mobile payments company, has announced a new SMS-based service.   » Continue Reading

The Federal Reserve has reported that consumer revolving credit grew at an annualized rate of 1.8 per cent during December, up slightly from the prior month. The amount of revolving credit outstanding was $790.5 billion.

Patent attorney Dennis Crouch blogs about a strategy some financial services firm utilize to prevent publication of their patent applications.

Financial institutions have a history of being quite secretive in their practices.  In one sense, this practice stops with the emergence of the patentability option.  In order to obtain a patent, an inventor must publicly disclose the details of the invention.  However, many institutions are opting to request that at least the patent application be left unpublished in order to maintain secrecy of the patent until the date the patent is issued (if ever).

Pascal Burg of Edgar, Dunn and Company has written a comprehensive white paper (PDF) exploring techniques that airlines are using to reduce their payments-related expenses.

We estimate that the total cost of accepting payments by card for the US airline industry amounted to approximately $1.5 billion dollars in 2003 which represents the total merchant fees paid by all US airlines to MasterCard and Visa "acquiring" banks and the likes of Amex and Diners Club. This is equivalent to $12.50 per average airline ticket.

PayPal has announced that Scott Thompson has joined the company as senior vice president and chief technology officer.

"Scott is one of the most respected technology professionals in the financial services industry, and we are thrilled that he is joining the PayPal team," said Jeff Jordan, president of PayPal. "Scott's expertise will help lead PayPal to our ultimate goal of becoming the global online payments standard."

Thompson comes to PayPal from Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organization. As executive vice president of technology solutions at Inovant, he was responsible for all development, support and maintenance of Visa's global payment system, which processed tens of billions of transactions in 2004.

Anne Chen reports in eWeek on MasterCard's web services platform.

The Electronic Authentication Partnership (EAP) has announced the election of its first board of directors. The EAP promotes interoperability among public and private online authentication systems.

The obstacle to widespread online authentication isn't technology, it's a lack of accepted rules for trust," said James Lewis, the Interim Chair of the EAP and Director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "The EAP's Trust Framework (PDF) is a major achievement by a public-private partnership that gives companies and individuals a way to determine how much they can trust a credential issued by someone else."

"In conducting the pilots," Lewis said, "the EAP will be able to count on the oversight of a talented Board that draws from a broad cross-section of the authentication industry."

Kristi Areliano writes in the Denver Post about Colorado legislators considering new limits on terms and fees for gift cards.   » Continue Reading

Ian Katz reports in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel about Joe Lopez and his complaint filed last week against Bank of America. The complaint is believed to be the first legal action by a customer against a U.S. bank to recover money apparently stolen by cybercriminals.

Deluxe and Primary Payment Systems have announced they're forming an alliance to help financial institutions perform identity verification at their new account desks in real time.   » Continue Reading

Writing for Technology Review, Peter Wayner takes a look back at financial cryptography.

Paul Strassman reports in Baseline about JP Morgan Chase's decision in August 2004 to cancel its $5 billion, seven year outsourcing contract with IBM. Why? Because growth in the bank's spending on technology was out of line with peer banks in the industry. [Tnx: Phil Windley]

Hypercom announced yesterday that it has to restate its 2004 financial results as a result of incorrectly accounting for certain equipment leases by the company's UK subsidiary.

The Company has also determined that the internal control deficiency that gave rise to this restatement represents a material weakness, as defined by the PCAOB's Auditing Standard No. 2.

Consequently, management will be unable to conclude that the Company's internal controls over financial reporting are effective as of December 31, 2004, and the Company's independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, are expected to issue an adverse opinion with respect to the Company's internal controls over financial reporting.

Hypercom's stock closed down over 18% yesterday on the news.

William McLeod writes an op-ed piece in this morning's Boston Globe about bankruptcy reform legislation now under consideration in Congress.

What's missing in this new legislation? Any change to the current practice of lending money to just about anyone. These days, there is little difference between some credit card companies and a loan shark. Of course, credit card companies do not break legs, they just increase the percentage rate if a payment is late, add a late fee, add an overlimit fee, and some even charge an annual fee for the privilege of getting more fees. There are many people trying to get out of debt, but they are being thwarted by the perfectly legal fees and interest being levied against them.

New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer has announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against shopping mall operator Simon Property Group alleging that fees on its Simon Giftcard violate a recently enacted state law.   » Continue Reading

Chase and AARP have announced a new combined credit/membership card that they claim is the first of its kind to provide automatic discounts at the point of sale for AARP members.

Fiserv has announced that it has signed a 12-year $460 million agreement with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac to provide check processing and image archive services through a utility called Vipro Pty Ltd.

Fiserv will supply Vipro with proof-of-deposit, image capture, locked box processing, image archive services and capture-related exception processing to help the banks reduce costs, gain economies of scale and secure new technological capabilities.

Some banks are using iPod's instead of toasters to encourage new accounts. Michael Fitzgerald reports in CIO Insight on Commerce Bank's strategy uses advanced IT to help drive quick responses for customers in branches.   » Continue Reading

PassMark Security has announced that the Stanford Federal Credit Union has implemented its Two-Factor Two-Way Authentication System.

"We chose PassMark because it is simple. Online members have always had to prove their identities to us. But with the explosion of 'phishing' attacks, online service providers should have to prove their identities to the consumer. PassMarks give us an effective way to do so, one that's easy for our members to understand and to use," said SFCU President, John Davis.

MasterCard International this morning announced 10.6% growth in gross dollar volume (GDV) on MasterCard-branded cards. For the full year 2004, 679.5 million MasterCard cards generated 16.7 billion transactions worth $1.5 trillion. GDV for worldwide credit and charge programs grew 8.8 percent to nearly $1.2 trillion, while GDV for offline debit programs rose 18.7 percent to $277.2 billion.

Jennifer Saranow reports in the Wall St. Journal on steps banks are taking to speed up the process of opening online accounts.

By speeding up the online application process, banks hope to make better use of the Internet as a way to attract more customers to their online banking sites. Banks like online customers because they tend to keep high balances; cost less to serve; and are easier to market other banking products to than branch patrons.

Mara Der Hovanesian writes for Business Week on this week's announcement by American Express that it will be spinning off its brokerage and money management unit to shareholders later this year so that it can focus on its payment card business.

The move frees AmEx to focus ever more incisively on its core card business. "More companies like ours are recognizing that if you don't have focus, you're at a competitive disadvantage," Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault told BusinessWeek Online on Feb. 1, the day the deal was announced.

The Japan Times reports on the application of biometric technologies for financial transactions in Japan.

The growing number of bank account thefts involving stolen or forged bank cards is forcing financial institutions to adopt costly biometric technology to verify that only bona fide customers are using automated teller machines.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has announced that it will be holding a Workshop on Biometrics and E-Authentication over Open Networks on March 30-31, 2005.

The Wall St. Journal reports that Amazon.com has introduced a new shipping program called Amazon Prime. For a $79 annual fee, Amazon.com customers can get free two-day shipping on all of their orders. More details on Amazon Prime are available on the Amazon.com site. <