American Express today reported second quarter financial results with net income up 16 percent and earnings per share up 19 percent from a year ago.

Record cardmember spending contributed to a 16 percent increase in discount revenue. This increase was driven by 13 percent growth in spending per basic cardmember, the continued benefits of rewards programs and the net addition of 4.8 million cards-in-force. Spending on cards issued by the company's network partners increased more than 35% from a year ago.

Mark Albright reports for the St. Petersburg Times on the payment plan for compensating merchants as a result of the settlement reached in 2003 in the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard.

Sara Clarke reports for the Newark Star-Ledger on MBNA founder Charles Cawley's views on the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America.

During the telephone interview, he recalled the years when MBNA used innovation to make its mark in a financial world dominated by banking giants.

"The (financial) supermarkets were the easiest for me to compete with because they didn't focus well," he said. "The big banks have enormous power once they realize what they have to do. Companies like MBNA showed them how to focus."

Carrie Kirby reports for the San Francisco Chronicle on the work of Stanford professors John Mitchell and Dan Boneh on anti-phishing solutions.

Professor John Mitchell and Associate Professor Dan Boneh have attacked the phishing problem from two angles: helping e-mail users avoid fake sites and preventing thieves from getting other peoples' passwords in their digital clutches. Now they're working on stopping Trojan horse software, spread through viruses, that can steal passwords right off a computer as they are typed.

Steven Deare reports for ZD Net Australia on a meeting held last week by the Australian Bankers Association to discuss the security of online banking and commerce.

The issue of two-factor authentication, which requires two forms of identification, was a major talking point throughout the conference, attendees told ZDNet Australia . National Australia Bank and Bendigo Bank currently offer such security to customers, utilising SMS and password tokens as additional protective measures.

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