Pay By Touch has announced that it has been named to the AlwaysOn AO100 List as one of the top privately-held companies. The AO100 List recognizes the 100 most innovative and successful private firms in the United States based on market potential, customer adoption and investor value.

The Beijing Star Daily reported earlier this week that "China Mobile's Mobile Wallet service will be available to Industrial Bank account holders from August. On activation users will be able to pay their mobile phone bill, check their bank account balance, and buy lottery tickets and mobile phone insurance via their handsets. The services will be available via SMS or call center, and both activation and use are currently free."

Earlier this week, the Emerging Payments Research Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston held its second annual research conference on the subject of "Consumer Behavior and Payment Choice". The conference agenda and a number of papers presented at the conference are available online - including papers on:

• Consumers’ Use of Debit Cards: Patterns, Preferences and Price Response
• The Visa Payment Panel Study
• Cash, Check or Bank Card? The Effects of Transaction Characteristics on the Use of Payment Instruments
• Consumer Payment Choice
• Payment Instruments as Perceived by Consumers – A Public Survey
• Debit vs. Credit: A Study of Self-Control in Shopping Behavior, Theory and Evidence.

APACS, the UK payments association representing card companies, has released spending figures for the UK that show that debit cards continue to dominate as the more popular method of plastic payment, accounting for 70 per cent of the purchases made in the UK in the first half of 2006.

Bloomberg reports that Bank of America is close to passing Citigroup as the number 1 bank as measured by market value. According to Bloomberg, "shares of Bank of America, run by Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis, climbed 61 percent in the past five years, increasing the market capitalization to $231 billion. Shares of New York-based rival Citigroup, which has expanded outside the U.S. and built up a top three investment-banking franchise, rose 1.6 percent, bringing its value to $233.9 billion." Valerie Bauerlein and Clint Riley also report this story for this morning's Wall St. Journal.

Moneycontrol.com reports from India on Paymate India's plans to offer its mobile payment service at top restaurants in Mumbai. "We will begin with high-profile restaurants and hip and trendy joints where the customer base is more inclined to take up paying using mobiles," said Mr Ajay Adiseshan, Founder and Managing Director, Paymate India. He says the company will target coffee bars next.

Patricia Sabatini writes for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about a new report on credit card debt that "accuses card issuers of pushing consumers to borrow beyond their means and calls for new regulations to end the most abusive industry practices." According to Sabatini, "The Life and Debt Cycle" (PDF), a 35-page report released yesterday by the National Consumer Law Center in Boston, "says the industry's tactics are particularly devastating to older Americans who have fewer resources to dig themselves out of a hole."

MasterCard Worldwide has announced it has chosen 11 college students currently serving as Capitol Hill interns to lead financial literacy programs when they return to their campuses in the fall. The effort is part of MasterCard's Are You Credit Wise? consumer education program, which utilizes a peer-to-peer teaching model to educate college students on the importance of financial management skills and the responsible use of credit cards.

The BBC reports on APACS latest statistics finding that UK credit card spending was £58.4bn, down from £60.6bn during the first half of 2005. Spending on debit cards rose during the same period to £92.5bn, from £88.8bn at the same time last year.

Ted Griffith reports for the Wilmington News-Journal on comments made yesterday by Bank of America's Bruce L. Hammonds in an interview after a Thursday speech to the Wilmington Rotary Club. Hammonds said he sees international expansion, including offering credit cards in China, as a key growth opportunity for the bank's Wilmington-based credit card business. He also said that the bank is nearly done with merger-related job cuts.

• CNNMoney.com: Wall Street gives credit to MasterCard
  
• Washington Post: Chevy Chase Bank Settles Credit Card Suit