Jonathan Stempel reports for Reuters on Bank of America's launch this Friday of its first American Express-branded cards. Tonight, the Bank of America home page features an image of the new MBNA Rewards American Express card along with a link to the online application page.

Fortent, a company created specifically to deliver a comprehensive suite of risk and compliance solutions to financial institutions worldwide, was launched today. Fortent combines Searchspace, a leading anti-money laundering solution, and Semagix, a pioneering Know Your Customer and Enhanced Due Diligence product, into a single brand.

Palisade Systems has announced that a year to date audit of data theft cases it conducted found that employees represent the largest and costliest threat to organizations that store, send or access consumers' personally identifiable information such as Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, healthcare records, etc.

SmartPay along with partners China Unicom Guangdong and Guangdong Kingold Telecommunications have announced the launch of ''Lottery in your Palm'', a jointly developed mobile lottery service for consumers which allows for purchase, payment, prize award announcements, and award information.

In an article mostly about Google's rumored launch of a payment service, Business Week's Robert Hof also mentions that next month PayPal will begin testing a "virtual debit card" for use on web sites that don't accept PayPal directly. According to Hof, using a small toolbar downloaded to their browser, PayPal users will be able to get a one time-use MasterCard card number linked to their PayPal account.

MasterCard has announced that its principal operating subsidiary, MasterCard International, is introducing a new corporate name, MasterCard Worldwide. The company has also unveiled a new corporate signature and a new corporate tagline, The Heart of Commerce, "to reflect the company's globally integrated structure and its strategic vision of advancing commerce worldwide."

Ina Steiner reports for AucitonBytes.com on eBay's Safe Payments Policy introduced last October and speculates that it seems unlikely that eBay would allow its sellers to advertise any new Google payment service in their eBay listings - at least initially.

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