In an article titled 'Pick a card, any card or your number is up," Isabel Berwick writes for the Financial Times (UK) about her personal frustration attempting to check out of a swanky hotel last weekend and not being able to pay because she couldn't remember her PIN.   » Continue Reading

A friend writes: I'd like to draw your attention to a big customer satisfaction study published in current issue of BAI's Banking Strategies magazine In an article titled 'Why Can't Some People Commit?"   » Continue Reading

MasterCard International announced today that it has named Javier Perez President of MasterCard Europe, effective immediately. Perez will report to Alan Heuer, Chief Operating Officer, and have responsibility for the 53 countries that encompass MasterCard's European region.   » Continue Reading

Marisa Torrieri reports for CR80News on how in Hong Kong government-issued IDs are flourishing as private-sector security tokens for online banking access.   » Continue Reading

Andrew K. Reese writes for Supply & Demand Chain Executive on the current state of purchasing card adoption and what American Express, MasterCard, Visa and GE have in their 2006 plans for their purchasing card products.   » Continue Reading

National City has announced a webcast next week entitled "Using Stored Value Debit Cards Effectively in Your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Plans" on Thursday, March 16, at 12:00 p.m. ET.   » Continue Reading

NPR's Morning Edition had an interview this morning with Jeff Jonas, chief scientist with IBM's Entity Analytic Solutions, in which he talks about the future of privacy protection.   » Continue Reading

Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig writes in Wired about Microsoft's InfoCard, the company's new identity management system scheduled to debut later this year with the release of Windows Vista. Lessig says InfoCard "could be the most important contribution to Internet security since cryptography."

Sonja Ryst writes for Business Week about her personal experience getting worried about a potential identity theft and what she learned about putting a freeze on her credit file at the three major credit bureaus.

Stephanie Salter writes for the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, IN) about a "riveting" recent study examining how Americans use credit cards titled "The Plastic Safety Net: The Reality Behind Debt In America" (PDF). The 44-page report is the result of a year long, joint effort of Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending.

David Lazarus reports for the San Francisco Chronicle on some of the marketing techniques being used by credit card issuers to sell "credit card payment protector plans" - otherwise known as credit card payment insurance or debt suspension agreements - to consumers.

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

• Digital Transactions: Google Could Be Weeks Away from Launching a PayPal-Like Service
• ComputerWorld: Worldwide Wave of Debit Card Fraud
• Debit card fraud outbreak raises questions about data breach
• Silicon.com (UK): Citibank card fraud - magnetic strip to blame?
• UK: Online fraud steadies but dangers remain
• Payday loans get key Oregon legislative race off to a fast start
• North Carolina Declares Victory In War On Payday Lending
• Blog: One Small Step for PayPal, One Giant Leap for Mobile Commerce
• UK: Co-op goes live with first payment by biometrics system
• Fujitsu launches palm vein biometric authentication device
• China: Bank of Communications, HSBC Plan Credit Card JV In 06
• Web banking fraud losses double in U.K.
• NEC Releases the Strong Authentication for Mobile Workers Using Biometrics
• LifeHacker: Don’t use your credit card to pay taxes