Mercator Advisory Group has announced its next monthly teleconference briefing (Wednesday, 12/14 beginning at 11 AM EST) will focus on the impact of identity theft on Internet banking. The briefing will be hosted by Tim Sloane, Director of Mercator's Debit Advisory Service.   » Continue Reading

DiamondCluster partner Aamer Baig says that recently announced plans by Blue Cross and Blue Shield to launch a new bank to administer consumer-directed health plan savings accounts shouldn't be view as a serious competitor to banks -- at least, not initially.   » Continue Reading

iovation has announced the release of AccountLock, a "family of authentication products that guard against unauthorized account access while offering multiple levels of user control, visibility and implementation stages depending on institution's needs."   » Continue Reading

At Glenbrook, we're tracking three themes in the US payments world that we expect will be increasingly important for 2006.   » Continue Reading

New Edge Networks has announced that it has established a direct network connection to American Express, enabling merchants to process transactions directly with the card network.   » Continue Reading

Frost & Sullivan has announced a new report examining "World Credit and Debit Fraud" that concludes that EMV migration has been the main tool to fight increasing fraud cases globally.   » Continue Reading

Almost one-third of Americans (32%) plan to use less credit card debt when buying gifts this holiday season, up from 28% who planned to use less debt in 2004, according to the Cambridge Consumer Credit Index. Another 32% do not plan to use credit cards at all this holiday season, down from 38% who swore off plastic last year.   » Continue Reading

Visa USA Executive Vice President William M. Sheedy pens an op-ed column for the Washigton Times on "litigious merchants", particularly those in the fuel industry advocating new economics for payment card acceptance.   » Continue Reading

Axalto and Gemplus International have announced a merger of equals to create Gemalto.   » Continue Reading

The Twin Cities Pioneer Press reports that MasterCard is requesting the disqualification of Minneapolis law firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi from a group of antitrust suits "because one of the firm's partners investigated MasterCard while he was a Justice Department lawyer."   » Continue Reading

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated.

• WSJ: Credit-Card Debt and Student Loans: Dodging the Hazards of Post-College Life
• Feuding Rivals Pay By Touch, BioPay Merge to Spur Biometrics
• Experian-Gallup Survey Shows Most Consumers Are Optimistic About Their Financial Situation for 2006