Wachovia and Golden West Financial, parent of World Savings Bank, have announced signing a definitive agreement to merge, "creating a leading retail banking and mortgage lending franchise in many of the nation's most attractive growth markets. This combination strengthens Wachovia's presence in California, Florida and Texas, and extends the banking franchise within reach of 55 percent of the U.S. population."   » Continue Reading

David Derbyshire reports for the UK's Telegraph on news of that a £1 million chip and pin fraud was uncovered by police. According to the report, fraudsters were able to create cloned plastic cards containing magnetic stripe (but not chip) data and then pull cash out of non-chip capable ATMs.

Joanna Bale also reports on the story for the Times reporting that "hundreds of customers at three Shell petrol stations have had their credit and debit card details copied and then money withdrawn from their accounts using cloned cards."

Forrester's Jonathan Penn comments on "The State Of FFIEC Compliance: Indecision And Worry" saying that "at the half-way point toward the deadline for FFIEC compliance, most banks have not yet acted on selecting, much less implementing, solutions to strengthen online authentication." Given the recent acquisitions of Cyota and PassMark Security by RSA Security, he's now predicting "a flurry of acquisitions" with bankers moving "toward solutions that coordinate risk monitoring with strong authentication."

Terri Bradford, Payment System Research Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and Bruce Cundiff, Research Analyst at Javelin Strategy, have published "Payments Fraud: Consumer Considerations" (PDF). The paper examines the potential for fraud associated with various "traditional" payment methods and the protective measures that consumers should take when using them.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has published a paper written by Ramon P. DeGennaro, SunTrust Professor of Finance at the University of Tennessee and Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, titled Merchant Acquirers & Payment Card Processors: A Look Inside The Black Box" (PDF).   » Continue Reading

Andrew Ross Sorkin reports for the New York Times on reports that Wachovia is close to a deal to acquire Golden West Financial for about $26 billion in cash and stock. If true, such an acquisition would significantly increase Wachovia's presence in the California and west coast banking markets. The Wall St. Journal is also reporting the story.

David Robinson writes for the Buffalo News about currency conversion fees applied to international card transactions by Visa, MasterCard, and, in additon, by many card issuers.

David Lazarus writes for the San Francisco Chronicle about changes to card agreements following MBNA's acquisition earlier this year by Bank of America - including higher fees and the introduction of default pricing.