MasterCard Canada has announced that it has added three new directors to its board from the acquiring side of the business.

"The addition of more acceptance-side representation on the board epitomizes MasterCard's commitment to transparency and being the best business partner in payments," said Kevin Stanton, President, MasterCard Canada. "We take a holistic view of Canadian payments. MasterCard Canada's Board felt strongly that enhancing acceptance-side representation in our governance would be important to ensuring higher-quality decision making and to position MasterCard to lead the Canadian payments industry."

Jennifer Saranow reports for the Wall St. Journal on the new fee that Visa USA plans to begin levying April 1st on charges made outside the cardholder's home country.

China's People's Daily Online reports on Visa's plans to grow in China.

Jim Allhusen, Visa International's executive vice-president for Asia-Pacific and general manager of Greater China region and the Philippines, said yesterday the company would leverage on its sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics.

Against competitors such as MasterCard and American Express as well as traveller's cheques and cash, Visa expects to double the 7.8 per cent market share it recorded in the world's seventh-largest tourist destination last year.

Trycera Financial has announced the launch of the Mi Dinero y Mis Suenos Prepaid MasterCard card. The card is issued by Meta Payment Systems, a division of MetaBank.   » Continue Reading

Hypercom announced today that Chris Alexander has retired from his positions as chairman, president and CEO. He will remain a member of the board of directors and act as a Special Assistant to the Board and the new CEO. William Keiper, a member of the company's board, has been named Interim President and CEO.

Ron Lieber reports for the Wall St. Journal on Citigroup's Diners Club cards.

Peter Knitzer, managing director for Citigroup's Citi Cards unit, says the company is particularly interested in using Diners as a tool to win more market share in the lucrative business of issuing corporate cards, where American Express has long led the field.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has announced details of its upcoming 2005 Payments Conference to be held May 18-19, 2005.

Wells Fargo has announced two new services that allow businesses to deposit checks remotely from their own locations -- saving time and costs.

The Desktop Deposit Service allows customers to scan checks at their desks using equipment provided by Wells Fargo. For customers already equipped with their own scanning equipment, Wells Fargo offers the Electronic Deposit service to transmit check images from their business locations to the bank.

"Check 21 allows us to take anywhere, anytime banking to the next level," said Steve Ellis, head of Wholesale Services at Wells Fargo. "It is truly banking without boundaries. Our business customers can now deposit checks into their Wells Fargo accounts from their offices, stores or operations. There's no more need to deal with multiple branches.

Ted Griffith reports for the Gannett News Service on how revolving credit card users are using home equity loans to pay down their credit card debt.

David Lazarus reports in the San Francisco Chronicle about new currency conversion fees being imposed on credit card usage by US cardholders when they use their cards outside of the US.

Jennifer Kingson writes for the New York Times about what's happening to checks in the US.

Checks are still used more often than either credit or debit cards, so it is too soon to write their obituary. But the declines reported recently by big banks - as much as 10 percent from a year ago - are so steep that checks over the next two decades are likely to become as prevalent as electric typewriters.

Jennifer Kingson writes for the New York Times about what banks are doing now that they're free to also participate in the American Express and Discover card networks, what American Express and Discover are doing to court them, and the potential impacts on cardholders and merchants.

As consumers migrate to cards from cash and checks, "the merchant is looking at the reality of every year paying more and more money for card payments, and it's untenable," Mr. Robertson said. "It's just going to lead to merchants going berserk."

Daniel Solove of the George Washington University Law School and Chris Jay Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center have written a paper discussing an approach to privacy protection.

In the aftermath of the ChoicePoint debacle, both of us have been asked by Congressional legislative staffers, state legislative policymakers, journalists, academics, and others about what specifically should be done to better regulate information privacy. In response to these questions, we believe that it is imperative to have a discussion of concrete legislative solutions to privacy problems. What appears below is our attempt at such an endeavor.

David Bank and Christopher Conkey report in the Wall St. Journal on the recent action by federal bank regulators telling banks they should notify customers of security breaches.   » Continue Reading

Kathy Chu reports of Dow Jones Newswires reports on a study by Financial Insights that assessed the impact that fears of identity theft are having on online consumer behaviors.   » Continue Reading

Jane Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal on increases that credit card issues are making to the monthly minimum payment amounts due in response to federal regulatory pressures to do so.   » Continue Reading

Dan Ilett reports for ZDNet UK that APACS believes that online banking customers are waking up to the threats of online phishing attacks.   » Continue Reading

Jacqueline Emigh reports for eWeek about recent activities looking by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and RSA Security examining RFID tag security -- and responses to their findings by Texas Instruments.   » Continue Reading

Euronet Worldwide has announced that it has completed the acquisition of three new prepaid companies, one each in Spain (Telecarga), the UK (ATX Software) and the US (Dynamic Telecom).   » Continue Reading

Following up on a posting by the OCC last Friday, today the Federal Reserve and other federal bank and thrift regulatory agencies announced publication of new guidance to financial institutions regarding procedures they should follow in addressing security breaches involving customer information.   » Continue Reading

Brian McWilliams, author of Spam Kings, writes for the O'Reilly Network about how list brokers are currently buying and selling private information on millions of people, including their home address, telephone number, date of birth, internet protocol (IP) address, and prescription history.   » Continue Reading

The Lincoln (NC) Tribune reports that Lowes Food will begin deploying BioPay's biometrics payment solution later this spring.   » Continue Reading

American Express has announced that Ritz Camera and Sheetz have signed on as the newest merchant partners in its ExpressPay contractless payments program.   » Continue Reading

First Data has announced that it is processing MasterCard card processing and settlement for 123 corporate-owned Burger King restaurants throughout Canada.

"With First Data's payment processing services and the MasterCard QPS program, participating Burger King restaurants in Canada can provide guests with easier and faster service that allows them to purchase the food they love while reducing wait time," said Barbara Lee, CFO, Burger King Canada.

Surin Murugiah reports for Malaysia's TheEdgeDaily.com on the decline in fraudulent card transactions following the migration to EMV-compliant smart cards in that market.

The migration to Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV)-compliant smart credit cards have reduced fraudulent transactions by more than 90% as at the end of last year, said MasterCard International vice president & senior country manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Jim Cheah.

“These are actually savings derived by member banks which can be utilised for better services to consumers,” he said, adding that cloning of EMV cards had not been detected since implementation globally.

Mary-Beth McLaughlin reports on debit card usage for the Toledo Blade.

Use of debit cards, including automated-teller machine withdrawals, has grown 24 percent a year between 2000 and 2003. By comparison, credit card use was up less than 7 percent from 2000 to 2003, a Federal Reserve report shows. Use of checks shrank during that period by 4 percent.

The Asian Banker reports on Visa's activities in its Asia/Pacific region.

“The big prize for China is to try to work with China Union Pay and the banks there to modernize the domestic structure,” says Keeley, “which we’ve been very supportive of. We’ve been working with China Union Pay very positively, and with the PBoC, to make sure that the China market is developed with international standards, which they’ve been very keen to do.”

“I’m sure that there will be speed bumps along the road,” adds Keeley when talking about the growth expected in China, and he highlights the importance of moving carefully in China is to ensure issuers have good risk management practices, responsible lending, good credit underwriting, and “all the basics of good banking – know your customer, understanding how to best advance credit, good collections policy, responsible lending…”

Hiawatha Bray writes in the Boston Globe about identity theft - and how attempting to protect personal information may not be the complete answer. He suggests a financial industry parallel to the "do not call" idea -- "do not issue."

These systems are far from perfect; credit card companies still lose millions to fraud. But confirming transactions is far easier than confirming identities. So Congress should take a look at a promising proposal called ''do-not-issue." Modeled after the ''do-not-call" list that has helped stamp out the curse of telemarketing, do-not-issue would let people block credit-reporting agencies from issuing credit reports without permission.

Melissa Allison reports in a major article in the Seattle Times about phishing attacks.

"Most banks spend more on washing windows than on money lost to phishing," said Jim Bruene, editor of the Online Banking Report, a Seattle-based newsletter. "But it is a huge issue in consumer confidence and the ability of a bank to market online and deal with a customer on the Internet."

Fair Isaac and Your Credit Card Companies have issued a press release with recommendations as to what consumers can do to improve their FICO scores.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, along with the other bank and thrift regulatory agencies, has issued guidance describing response programs, including customer notice, for security breaches (PDF) that involve unauthorized access to customer information.   » Continue Reading

Anita Powell of the Cox News Service writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer about initiatives to help troops avoid compounding their debt.

Since last year, officials with Army Emergency Relief, a private nonprofit organization, have been working on a new national program called Commanders Referral that will debut at Fort Hood this year. The program, which offers soldiers two no-interest $500 loans a year, is an attempt to undercut the aggressive payday-loan business, military officials said.

Ed Perkins writes in the San Jose Mercury News about changes resulting from the addition of the MasterCard logo to Diners Club cards.

f you have a Diners Club card, you will shortly receive a new card with a MasterCard logo by the traditional Diners Club mark -- along with some new fine print. Overall, the new move has both pluses and minuses.

Aleksandra Todoro writes for SmartMoney.com about why the American Express "Green Card" isn't a very good deal because of its high fees as compared to comparable cards.

Kathleen Day and Caroline Mayer report for Sunday's Washington Post about the proposed changes in US bankruptcy law that are close to being approved by Congress.

The stated goal of the new legislation, which was pushed by the credit card, auto and retail industries, is to end abuse of the bankruptcy system. But many bankruptcy experts worry it will only add cost and red tape to the process of filing for bankruptcy and not necessarily curb abuse.

Vesta Corporation has announced an alliance with ChinaDotMan Co. Ltd. (see: www.9588.com) that includes an equity investment by Vesta.

ChinaDotMan has introduced a unique e-ticketing service that gives mobile users the ability to browse and book air tickets in real time using their cell phones. E-tickets are purchased through a user's credit card. 9588 provides an easy-to-use, complete service offering in the field of mobile payments.

The China Stock Blog takes a look at the issues surrounding ecommerce and payments in China.

What is impeding growth of Chinese online shopping? According to both Piper Jaffray and Taobao.com, it's not primitive online payment systems - as many have suggested. While payment systems may be inefficient, the greater challenge to growth in online shopping may lie elsewhere - especially in the near-term.

Earlier, Bill Bishop posted some of his thoughts on these questions - including links to recent presentations by TaoBao (PDF) and Alibaba (PPT).

We feel that the single biggest hurdle to the development of China's eCommerce market is the lack of trust when an agreed-upon transaction comes to the settlement stage - i.e. a buyer will refuse to send money before receiving the goods, and a seller will refuse to ship the goods before receiving money.  Because the Alibaba franchise represents trust in the minds of internet users, Alibaba is uniquely-positioned to offer its escrow-based payment solution AliPay. 

Andy Sullivan reports for Reuters on the use of Voice over IP services for spoofing caller ID phone numbers.   » Continue Reading

Digital Insight has announced that it is partnering with PayCycle to offer PayCycle's web-based small business self-service payroll to its financial institution customers.

"Digital Insight's partnership with PayCycle is entirely consistent with our strategy of providing best-of-breed solutions to our regional and community clients so they can compete on a level playing field with anyone, including the largest and most sophisticated financial institutions," said Jeff Stiefler, chairman, president and CEO for Digital Insight.

US Bancorp has announced it is aligning its retail payments business under Pamela Joseph.

Patricia A. Wesner, executive vice president of retail payment solutions will become part of Joseph's payment team. Wesner will continue to manage U.S. Bank's consumer and small business credit card services, affinity cards, co-brand cards, debit and prepaid products.

President and COO Richard David commented: "The combination of the company's retail credit and debit card issuing business with its merchant acquiring business, creates opportunities for synergies, while providing additional focus on our goal of being a recognized leader in relationship-based payment services."

The BBC reported today that police in London have foiled one of the biggest attempted bank thefts in Britain.

The investigation was started last October after it was discovered that computer hackers had gained access to Sumitomo Mitsui bank's computer system in London. They managed to infiltrate the system with keylogging software that would have enabled them to track every button pressed on computer keyboards.

The Guardian also reports the story:

"The rise of keyloggers poses a real threat to companies and this may be the first time we have evidence of organised criminals using the equipment to attack a bank," Alan MacDonagh, managing director of the fraud consultancy Hibis Europe told the Financial Times.

TSYS has announced that it has signed a seven year processing agreement with ABN Amro for its Dutch consumer and commercial credit-card portfolios.

"ABN AMRO's decision to partner with TSYS is a tremendous opportunity for us and represents the achievement of a strategic goal," says Kelley Knutson, managing director for TSYS Europe. "We are committed to the European market, and have built our platform and services to provide clients like ABN AMRO with the most technologically advanced pan-European solution."

Netcraft is reporting several incidents of online banking sites being hit recently by clever cross-site phishing attacks.

One surprising facet of hosting frauds on banking sites is that banks to date have tended to be significantly slower than hosting companies to react to fraudsters using their sites. Fraudsters have benefited from the longevity of frauds hosted on banking sites as well as their plausibility.

Jeremy Wagstaff also writes about the issue on his weblog.

The US Department of Justice announced yesterday that it had closed its investigation into Western Union's exclusive contracting practices with its retail agents.   » Continue Reading

The card market in the UK is nearing completion of its "chip and PIN" initiative -- replacing mag stripe only cards with cards containing chips and moving the customer from written signatures to PIN's.

Ross Anderson, Mike Bond, and Steven Murdoch have written a white paper titled "Chip and Spin" that addresses their point of view on this migration of the UK card market to "Chip and PIN". See their Chip and Spin website for more background on this thinking.

Baseline reports on organized crime activity on the Internet.

The Payment Card Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has announced two new publications.   » Continue Reading

Authorize.net has announced the completion of its beta release of its new Virtual Point of Sale product. VPOS is designed to enable retail merchants using a PC equipped with a mag stripe reader to utilize the Authorize.net payment gateway.   » Continue Reading

Celent analyst Alenka Grealish writes for Bank Systems and Technology about business-to-business electronic payments and why higher volumes can be expected over the next five years.

Despite the formidable incumbent status of the check in business-to-business transactions, its dominance will wane. Various industry, technological and regulatory trends will propel the adoption of e-payments. The drivers of adoption include both collaborative and competitive forces and players outside the banking realm. The era of banks' molding of payment systems in their favor is over. Next-generation payment systems will be structured with corporations' needs in mind and will be influenced by technology providers.

Andrew Kantor reports for the Roanoke Times on that city's recent launch of eCheck acceptance.

The program lets people pay bills without using a credit card, benefiting both users and the city. That's because American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa charge Official Payments (the company that handles the city's credit-card processing) for each transaction. This cost is passed on to customers in the form of a "convenience fee" of 2.75 percent of their bill.

Accepting payments by check means the city doesn't have to charge those fees, but retains the speed of an all-electronic payment. "I don't have a person back here opening up the envelopes and sorting them out," Powers said. "It's already there. We submit it, we hit it, we get the money."

The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a continuation hearing today at which senior executives of ChoicePoint (PDF) and Bank of America (PDF) provided additional information about the recent incidents at their companies involving the potential compromise of personal consumer information.

Fair Isaac and the Consumer Federation of America have announced the results of a new survey that shows that almost half of American consumers do not understand key facts about credit scores.

To provide consumers with basic information about credit scores, CFA and Fair Isaac have prepared a new free brochure that is being distributed by the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC).

"This credit score brochure contains the most important information about the score most businesses use -- the FICO credit score -- including what factors influence its rise and fall, and how consumers can get their own scores," said Cheri St. John, vice president of Global Scoring and Consumer Solutions for Fair Isaac.

The brochure is available for downloading at both FICO's and CFA's websites.

Wal-Mart and GE Consumer Finance have announced they are launching two new Discover credit cards -- one for business members of Sam's Club and one for consumers.   » Continue Reading

Visa International has announced plans to refresh and evolve its brand identity. The changes include a new look for the blue, white and gold Visa logo and changes to card design features.   » Continue Reading

Princeton eCom has announced that I4 Commerce, the developer of the Bill Me Later payment solution, will be using Princeton eCom for online bill presentment and payment.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Review of Network Economics are sponsoring a conference in September 2005 to explore recent antitrust activity related to card payment systems.   » Continue Reading

Elizabeth Judge reports in the Times Online (UK) on plans by UK card issuers to supply authentication devices to cardholders for use in shopping online.

Barclaycard, the world’s biggest card issuer, revealed to The Times that it had completed trials of the security device. It is in talks with leading retailers to roll out the scheme nationally. Other debit and credit card providers are expected to follow suit.

The Hill is reporting that more than 40 members of the US House of Representatives carried at least $10,000 in credit card debt in 2003 and parts of 2004.

The lawmaker reporting the highest credit-card debt was Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who noted that in 2003 he had between $80,000 and $175,000 spread across seven credit cards. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, listed five accounts with a total of $75,000 to $250,000 in debt.

Smart Transaction Systems has announced that its gift and loyalty card programs are now compatible with various contactless cards, tags, etc.

"STS is the first of the major gift and loyalty providers to offer contactless card technology. The new offering is compatible with the STS system that is already being used by thousands of merchants. This is an exciting innovation for the market place, and we have been looking forward to the release of this product with a great deal of anticipation," said Kevin Colaco of Paynet Transaction Services, an STS value added partner. "We believe this product will be very successful in providing a solution for companies that need to serve a lot of customers at one time."

POSDATA has announced that it has been certified by Hypercom as an authorized repair service facility.

"We have awarded this designation to POSDATA because of their technical proficiencies, processes and systems. Adding POSDATA to our network of repair facilities will give merchants faster and more streamlined servicing and repair of Hypercom's highly popular and in-demand terminals,” said O.B. Rawls IV, president, Hypercom North America.

Amanda Hodge reports in the Weekend Australian on keystroke logging attacks against online banking customers.

There's little chance the true cost of internet fraud to banks – in stolen funds and the many millions spent staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated hacking scams – will be made public. To reveal the full cost and extent would shatter fragile consumer confidence in a system that is proving increasingly vulnerable to crime.

Nova Information Systems has announced the availability of its dynamic currency conversion solution.

Dynamic Currency Conversion allows international cardholders in the U.S. the option to have their purchases instantly converted at checkout into their local currency. Currency conversion is calculated at a competitive exchange rate, and the U.S. dollar amount, conversion rate, and home currency amount are all printed on the receipt. Merchants, MSP's and other NOVA partners have the opportunity to share in the revenue generated from conversion fees.

MasterCard and Visa have announced that they have reached an agreement to share a common communications protocol and associated testing requirements for radio frequency-based contactless payments at the point of sale.   » Continue Reading

As part of an initiative to integrate its business practices with environmental responsibility, PNC Bank has announced plans to ensure new bank branches meet U.S. Green Building Council Standards.

"As a bank we recognize the importance of wise investments and that the integration of green principles into our business practices enhances the value we deliver to customers, shareholders, communities and employees," says Neil Hall, CEO of regional community banking at PNC. "Good environmental sense makes good economic sense."

Hypercom has announced the IN-tact 1201, a gateway device that allows existing dial point of sale terminals to be used over IP-based networks.   » Continue Reading

Business Objects has announced that Visa USA CEO Carl Pascarella has joined its board of directors.

"As a top executive at a large multinational corporation, I know first hand the importance of having the best information at my fingertips to make critical business decisions," said Pascarella.

"Business Objects plays an important role in helping its customers optimize their performance by using information as a competitive advantage. I look forward to leveraging my extensive background to help Business Objects define its future role in the ever-changing business intelligence industry and overall software market."

Sue Stock writes for Delaware Online about the three letter transaction codes used in bank statements and what they mean.

David Lazarus writes a follow-up to an earlier column in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the currency conversion fees charged by credit card issuers.

Nearly all readers shared my bewilderment with how the likes of Bank of America and Wells Fargo justify tacking an extra 2 percent fee onto credit card transactions, above and beyond the 1 percent foreign-currency conversion charge levied by Visa and MasterCard.

The Chicago Sun-Times picks up AP's Eileen Alt Powell's story about the disappearing check.

Elliott C. McEntee, president and chief executive officer of NACHA, which is based in Herndon, Va., said most consumers seem comfortable with the electronic systems. He said a recent survey conducted for the group found that just 4 percent of check writers have called their financial institutions in the past six months with questions about check conversion payments.

"We think it's a service that creates a win-win situation," McEntee said. "It's good for consumers, and it gets more paper out of the check-clearing system."

Ted Griffith reports for Delaware Online about MBNA's new business strategies.

Faced with a slowdown in the U.S. credit card business, CEO Bruce L. Hammonds is leading a dramatic overhaul at MBNA Corp. that's included pushing new loan products, entering new markets and making big cost cuts.

For Delaware, the stakes are high as the 23-year-old Wilmington-based bank seeks to reinvent itself. MBNA employs about 10,400 people in the state, more than any other business and second only to state government. The success of MBNA's new initiatives could have big implications for Delaware's banking sector and the overall state economy.

Visa International has published a white paper titled "Financial Flows and Supply Chain Efficiency" (PDF) authored by Professor Warren H. Hausman of Stanford University.

The Telegraph reports on the current activities of former Visa International CEO Malcolm Williamson.

He says he was preparing to retire at 60 when the Visa International chief executive job came along. "We changed plans entirely and moved to San Francisco for six years."

Canada's Dexit has announced an agreement with SMART System Technologies to integrate the Dexit prepaid payment service and SST's loyalty product into a single offering.

"Dexit offers everyday small value payment services and welcomes the opportunity to provide its current and future customers with loyalty services by partnering with SST," said Renah Persofsky, President and CEO of Dexit.

"SST meanwhile provides loyalty services and now has the opportunity to extend its product line by providing its customers with the Dexit prepaid small value payments service through Dexit. This is very much a case where the sum will be greater than the total of the parts. Given SST's position in the United States, we view this arrangement as a critical next step to entering that market."

Separately, Dexit announced its financial results for 2004. Revenues were C$1.76 million with 47,000 registered consumers and 350 merchants accepting Dexit.

Joseph Giannone writes for Reuters on comments made earlier today by Discover Financial's CEO David Nelms.

MSNBC.com is running an AP story on accounts receivable conversion (ARC) of checks.

Part of the confusion for consumers is that there's no consistent language to describe the ARC transactions. Butnitz's bank may label them "automated checks," but another institution may call them "authorized transfers" and another simply "ARC."

Time interviews Visa USA CEO Carl Pascarella.

Chris Sanders reports for Reuters on comments made by JP Morgan Chase's Heidi Miller regarding future plans for new payment services.

"Yes, we are looking at all our options," Miller said during an interview with Reuters, responding to a question whether the bank would create an Internet pay system like PayPal. She added the bank has a payments steering committee studying the best way for it to take advantage of changes in the way consumers and businesses make and receive payments.

David Lazarus writes in the San Francisco Chronicle about the various fees charged to credit card holders when they use their cards for purchases abroad.

Beginning next month, Visa is switching from charging 1 percent above and beyond any currency conversion costs to charging 1 percent simply for using your credit card in another country.

Tania Padgett reports in Newsday about MapCash Holdings, a Brooklyn NY-based company that markets stored value cards for use in the Caribbean.

You won't find anything about stored value cards in the liturgy at rabbinical school. Nevertheless, two rabbis from Brooklyn chose that field after finishing their studies, and now they're hoping to help bring the cashless culture to local immigrants with a business that enables people to wire money quickly and cheaply.

Payment industry veteran Phil Heasley has been named president and CEO of Transaction Systems Architects, Inc.   » Continue Reading

Steve Gelsi writes on MarketWatch.com abot Morgan Stanley analysts' opinions regarding American Express' likelihood of success in gaining a foothold with bank card issuers.

In a report entitled "The Empire Strikes Back," Morgan Stanley analysts said Visa and MasterCard's higher payments, called interchange fees, "should take away most of the incentive for banks to partner with AmEx."

Kevin Kelleher writes for TheStreet.com about the potential growth ahead for PayPal.

eBay paid $1.5 billion for PayPal in 2002, a figure that struck observers at the time as too rich but which seems like a bargain two and a half years later: PayPal is now worth between $6 billion and $7 billion, estimates Legg Mason. The merger has helped both companies grow: eBay gave PayPal a critical mass it needed to succeed, and PayPal gave eBay a higher transaction volume, as buyers and sellers took to its format.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Saturday on Wal-Mart's plans to apply to organize a Utah-based industrial loan corporation.

Wal-Mart's pending Utah application represents only the latest initiative in a five-year effort to get into banking. Previous plans to buy financial institutions in California, Oklahoma and to partner with a bank in Canada were thwarted either by federal or state legislators.

Miles Brignall reports in the Guardian on last year's UK results with respect to bank and credit card fraud.

Bank and credit card fraud rose 20% last year, costing British banks £505m, with part of the increase due to the introduction of new chip and pin cards. Apacs, the clearing payments association that compiled the figures on the banking industry's behalf, said the amount stolen using bank cards rose from £420.4m in 2003 to £504.8m in 2004.

MasterCard has announced that it is applying to become an IRS Qualified Payment Card Agent.   » Continue Reading

Shell Oil has announced that it has exceeded its goals for its marketing campaign with MasterCard and Citibank.   » Continue Reading

The Clearing House Payments Co. has announced that the Federal Reserve is now linked to the SVPCO Image Exchange Network to facilitate the electronic movement of image files.

"The Federal Reserve and SVPCO-Image Exchange Network connection is a major milestone for the nation's payments system, and it will help usher in a new era of clearing checks in an all-electronic environment that will benefit institutions nationwide," said George Thomas, Executive Vice President of The Clearing House. "The early volumes being sent through the Image Exchange Network are significant, and we expect that to increase substantially in 2005."

Dennis Berman writes in Monday's Wall St. Journal about Capital One's plans to enter retail banking by acquiring New Orleans-based Hibernia Bank. Terence O'Hara writes a related story on this acquisition in the Washington Post.   » Continue Reading

Business Week reports on the growth of ING Direct, now the largest online bank.

Last year, ING Direct, a division of Dutch financial-services giant ING Group, became the largest online bank -- passing E*Trade Bank -- and the fourth-largest thrift in the U.S., according to Charlottesville (Va.)-based research firm SNL Financial.

Also included is an interview with ING Direct CEO Arkadi Kuhlman.

There are two core competencies we have: Marketing and technology. Our marketing events in new markets have been very successful, and we've seen increases in account openings by 150% to 250%. As for the $25 check, the industry's average customer acquisition cost is around $100, so a $25 mailing isn't that much. Plus we get a lot of business by referrals.

As the Senate prepares to vote on changes in bankruptcy law this week, Kathleen Dan and Caroline Mayer report in a front page story in this morning's Washington Post on how credit card penalties and fees compound the problems of many financially strapped consumers.

According to R.K. Hammer Investment Bankers, a California credit card consulting firm, banks collected $14.8 billion in penalty fees last year, or 10.9 percent of revenue, up from $10.7 billion, or 9 percent of revenue, in 2002, the first year the firm began to track penalty fees.

Gary Rivlin of the New York Times takes a look at eBay and PayPal in Sunday's edition.

PayPal is the default method of payment on the American site, and it is slowly gaining momentum as eBay struggles, country by country, to translate the service into a foreign language while seeking approval from local regulators to operate within their borders. Already, it accounts for one-quarter of eBay's revenue, which the company expects to reach roughly $4.3 billion this year.

But the company's deepest hope for PayPal, which eBay bought for $1.5 billion in 2002, is that more and more Web sites not related to eBay will adopt it as a preferred payment method.

Evan Hendricks writes for the Washington Post about the business of collection and sale of personal information.

So you think it's your personal information? That's not the viewpoint of the mega-companies compiling and selling data about you. As they see it, if they collect the information, they own it. Sure, it's about you, but it's theirs. You might think "privacy," but they see a commodity -- and a valuable one at that.

Another article by Robert O'Harrow in today's edition examines how access to ChoicePoint's data cache was obtained by appearing to be a legitimate business requesting access to the data.

Glenbrook's Allen Weinberg will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, March 10th at the Merchant Risk Council's 2005 conference meeting in Las Vegas. The full agenda is available online.

ChoicePoint today announced it will "discontinue the sale of information products that contain sensitive consumer data, including Social Security and driver's license numbers, except where there is a specific consumer-driven transaction or benefit, or where the products support federal, state or local government and criminal justice purposes."

ChinaTechNews.com reports on a strategic cooperation agreement between Alibaba and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Quantum Corp. has announced the appointment of John Partridge, president and CEO of Visa's Inovant, to its board of directors.

"John runs one of the largest transaction processing companies in the world and knows first-hand the challenges and opportunities in the enterprise storage market," said Rick Belluzzo, chairman and CEO of Quantum.  "I look forward to drawing on his experience and expertise as we further extend Quantum's leadership in helping customers meet their backup, recovery and archive needs."

In addition to serving on Quantum's board of directors, Partridge also sits on the boards of Inovant and Delta Dental.

MasterCard has filed its 10-K report with the SEC for 2004. For the year MasterCard reported $2.6 billion in revenue (up 14% over 2003) and operating income of $346.7 million. About 12% of MasterCard's 2004 revenue came from one customer, JP Morgan Chase.

"MasterCard's strong global business model is delivering excellent results that reflect our unwavering focus on our customers and the value of a key strategic asset, our brand," said Robert W. Selander, president and chief executive officer.

"MasterCard's far-reaching global footprint is supported by unsurpassed worldwide merchant acceptance and an ever-increasing array of payment programs that consumers and businesses worldwide rely on daily. With these assets and our solid financial discipline, MasterCard has benefited from recent improvements in the global economy and remains well positioned to take advantage of future growth opportunities."

Among the exhibits filed with the 10-K are an addendum to the employment agreement with MasterCard CEO Robert W. Selander in which is it disclosed that a retention payment of $10,000,000 will be payable to Selander under certain conditions and the text of MasterCard's 12/31/04 agreement with Citibank (with details redacted),