Valerie Bauerlein reports for the Wall St. Journal on comments by Bank of America's CEO Ken Lewis that "he may be interested in starting a credit-card processing network and a new brand of card to compete with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express."

Tim Johnson reports from Tokyo for the Knight Ridder Newspapers about mobile phones and payments. "Japanese consumers can purchase from vending machines, buy train tickets, order a bowl of noodles, trade stock, bid at online auctions and change channels on a TV set."

TowerGroup says that self-service banking is alive and well in the United States and finds that self-service banking will undergo an explosion in both quantity and quality, relative to the kinds of transactions that consumers can perform unaided by bank staff. TowerGroup estimates that by 2010, retail banking customers in the U.S. will conduct nearly 60 billion self-service transactions every year -- an increase of nearly 50% over self-service transaction volumes forecasted for 2006.   » Continue Reading

Umpqua Bank has introduced Discover Local Music, a music-on-demand project and online music store, at http://www.umpquamusic.com. Umpqua's Discover Local Music project identifies high-quality independent musicians throughout the West Coast and makes their music available online and in Umpqua's 96 bank branch "stores".   » Continue Reading

Zhang Fengming reports for the Shanghai Daily that policy makers in China at the country's central bank are considering "preferential tax plans to boost its bank card-based consumption".   » Continue Reading

Jane Kim reports for the Wall St. Journal on the launch of UBS-branded American Express and Visa Signature credit cards (issued by Barclay's Juniper Bank) along with a rewards program for brokerage customers fulfilled via the cards.

In a column titled "Cash preferable to credit for kids", the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary writes about her views on why credit cards (including prepaid cards) are just bad news for kids and teens.   » Continue Reading

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• Taipei Times: Visa sees only a single-digit rise in card consumption
• Creditz Digital Currency Introduces Digital Prizing and Micro-Payments for Broadcast Industry
• 45% growth in online banking in Pakistan
• MICHELLE SINGLETARY: Cash preferable to credit for kids