The July 2006 edition of the First Annapolis Navigator is now available. This month's issue features a review of opportunities and challenges for card-based payments in the U.S. transit market. Other articles include: commentary on credit card growth in the Latin American region, a comparison of merchant acquiring M&A transaction dynamics in the U.S. and Europe, a brief look at The Home Depot's potential bank acquisition and a summary of bank multi-product loyalty/rewards programs.

eCommLink has announced that it has been selected to process transactions generated by the Allow Card Prepaid MasterCard, a card designed to teach financial accountability to America's youth.   » Continue Reading

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has released an updated Information Security Booklet (PDF), which replaces the booklet issued in December 2002. The Information Security Booklet is one of 12 that, in total, comprise the FFIEC IT Examination Handbook. The FFIEC also released an Executive Summary (PDF) that contains a high-level synopsis of each of the 12 booklets and describes the handbook development and maintenance processes.

One year after launching its first contactless credit cards, Chase has announced that it has so far issued nearly seven million cards with blink to cardmembers in Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas - and that the cards are now accepted at more than 25,000 merchant locations nationwide, ranging from convenience stores to sports stadiums. Among the statistics reported regarding blink transactions are a 40 percent increase in average ticket size and increasing frequency of purchases by 35 percent.   » Continue Reading

APACS, the UK payments association representing card companies, has released 2005 e-commerce figures. The results show that 14 per cent of the 34 million adults who use the Internet (4.9 million) made their most recent purchase from an auction site in 2005. There were 79 million transactions over this period, and £2.8 billion was spent. Looking at the wider e-commerce market, for the first time more than half of all adults made an online purchase during 2005 - 25 million or 52 per cent of all adults (and 74 per cent of internet users). This is an increase of 11 per cent of Internet users over 2004.   » Continue Reading

US Bank has announced it has recently issued its 10 millionth gift card and expects to surpass 15 million during the 2006 winter holiday season. US Bank saw gift card sales at 86 percent of its branches in May, and it sold 334,781 Visa Gift Cards during the first two weeks of June leading up to Father's Day. US Bank issues Visa Gift Cards in 41 states through its 2,430 retail branches and mall partners, including Simon Property Group, Macerich Malls and Crocker Park.   » Continue Reading

Virgin Mobile USA has announced the launch of the Virgin Mobile "Stash" Prepaid Visa Debit Card issued by Inter National Bank. The new prepaid debit card is linked to a Virgin Mobile phone, allowing users to earn free airtime. The extended offering of features includes peer-to-peer money transfers and wireless text alerts to manage spending and prevent fraud, as well as online account management and a savings program. Be sure to see the fee structure on this card - both "by-the-month" and "by-the-stripe" options are provided.   » Continue Reading

The Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken (NVB) (Netherlands Bankers' Association) and De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) have announced results of a McKinsey study they commissioned to examine the revenues and costs incurred by banks in that country in providing payments services. A "EUR 23 million loss is the difference between total gross income of EUR 3,996 million and total expenses of EUR 4,019 million. The banks incur losses on nearly all payment instruments. 90% of total expenses is accounted for by checking accounts (EUR 1,215 million), cash (EUR 779 million) and transfers (EUR 329 million). This negative result is compensated for almost entirely by income from balances on retail and corporate accounts." A copy of the study is available for download.

Jaikumar Vijayan reports for Computerworld that "a majority of U.S. banks appear unprepared to meet the Dec. 31 deadline for complying with the guidelines, several analysts said last week. They placed much of the blame for the current lack of preparedness on the fact that the guide-lines aren't mandatory and don't specify what form of strong authentication banks should implement."

Aj Moss inc., an online retailer of bedding ensembles and linens, has put out a press release about the addition of Google Checkout to their e-commerce website. According to the retailer, they hope Google Checkout enables them to "reach an audience of people who seek more simplicity, security and speed in their shopping experience."   » Continue Reading

The Center for Financial Services Innovation has released "Highlights From The Inaugural Underbanked Financial Services Forum" (PDF) written by CFSI's Research Director, Katy Jacob.   » Continue Reading

AFX News Limited reports on comments by US Commerce Department Under Secretary Frank Lavin that China UnionPay is to maintain its credit card monopoly in China over the short-term despite US concerns.

Nicole Gaudiano writes for the Gannett News Service about merchant reaction to credit and debit card interchange fees. "Interchange fees in the United States last year averaged about 1.8 percent of the cost of a transaction, among the highest in the industrialized world. They cost retailers about $30.7 billion last year. Part of the frustration for merchants is that it’s hard to negotiate with the card associations, said Kenneth Posner, a Morgan Stanley analyst. “They have shown an ability to raise prices even when merchants complain,“ he said. “The big frustration is not necessarily the magnitude of the cost. It’s the inability to do anything about it.“

• Wincor Nixdorf and Hypercom Team to Provide Complete POS Solutions
• Panini Releases Remote Deposit Capture White Paper; Financial Evaluation Model Calculates Potential Savings for Corporations
• Wells Fargo Joins First American in Sponsoring the MSN Latino Personal Finance Center
• Bharosa Announces Enhanced Online Banking Security at SVB Silicon Valley Bank
• Authentium Introduces VirtualATM Technology to Lock Down Consumer Online Banking Interactions and Enable Compliance With Industry Guidelines and Regulations
• Phishers Beat Citibank's Two-Factor Authentication
• Smile! You're on your parent's credit card
• Discover Card Fall Shopping Survey Reveals Thirty-One Percent of Consumers Plan to Spend over $300 During Fall Shopping Season
• MBNA Ireland Shares Data With Experian's Consumer Bureau Ireland (ECBI)

Blogger Kirby Witmer writes about some of his experiences trying to use Google Checkout to purchase from Buy.com. You can find and read more blog posts about Google Checkout using this Technorati search.

Gregory Karp writes for the Allentown (PA) Morning Call about online banking and asks "are you still using a bank just because it has branches near you? If so, you're probably getting a lousy deal."

On Thursday, the Wall St. Journal's Walter Mossberg provided some blunt advice to consumers about how to avoid the latest scams. At the top of his list: Don't trust email from financial institutions. According to Mossberg, "email is so easily manipulated by crooks that you simply should never, ever consider any email from a financial institution as legitimate."

Philip Lin writes for Pacific Epoch about the recent Smartpay announcement that it would be working with China Minsheng Bank to enable the banks' customers to pay for all sorts of goods and services with SmartPay technology using cellular SMS. Lin concludes "one thing seems likely - the "network effects" in this model will probably drive a "winner takes all" ending. And the winner will be a very valuable company, easily more valuable than any public tech company in China."

Wayne T. Brough, chief economist at FreedomWorks, writes a lengthy opinion piece on the subject of credit and debit card interchange fees suggesting that "the value of card payment networks must be considered before imposing arbitrary caps or restrictions on how these markets function. Regulating this market could harm consumers, innovation, and the economy as a whole."

Kara McGuire writes for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune about personal lending on Prosper.com. "In a recent report, Online Banking Report founder Jim Bruene predicted that, within five years, there could be as many as 100,000 person-to-person loans in the United States per year, worth more than $1 billion."

The FDIC announced yesterday that its Board of Directors had approved a six-month moratorium on applications for deposit insurance by Industrial Loan Companies (ILCs), as well as on notices of change in bank control for existing ILCs. The FDIC will not make any final decisions or accept any future applications for deposit insurance or notices of change in control for ILCs during this period.   » Continue Reading

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.   » Continue Reading

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.   » Continue Reading

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.   » Continue Reading

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

Evan Schuman reports for eWeek on changes by Visa USA effective July 18th to the merchant levels for its Cardholder Information Security Program. The article reports that Visa has changed the definition of Level 2 so that it applies to all merchants not just ecommerce merchants. Level 2 is defined as any merchant processing 1,000,000 to 6,000,000 Visa transactions per year. Level 1 continues to apply to all merchants regardless of acceptance channel while Levels 3 and 4 continue to apply only to ecommerce merchants. According to the table on the Visa web site, merchants newly included in the Level 2 definition will have until Sept. 30, 2007 to be validated as complying with the PCI Data Security Standard.

The Payments Card Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has announced that three new papers have been added to its website.   » Continue Reading

SmartPay Jieyin Ltd has announced a China mobile payments partnership with China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd.   » Continue Reading

Clint Riley reports for the Wall St. Journal on efforts by Citigroup to use some its CitiFinancial offices as "gateway branches" for opening new Citibank checking or savings accounts.

Luladey Tadesse reports for the Gannett News Service that "consumers fed up with writing checks and the hassle of buying stamps increasingly are switching to paying bills online." She reports that about 35 percent of bills were paid online last year by Americans, up from 25 percent in 2004, according to the online market research firm Harris Interactive Inc.

Maria Bruno-Britz reports for Bank Systems & Technology that Americans are ready to use their mobile phones for payments. Accroding to a recent survey of 800 consumers conducted by Visa USA in which "61 percent of participants between 25 to 34 years of age said they were interested in making purchases with their mobile phone." Bruno-Britz reports on comments Michele Janes, director of the product innovation and coordination team at Visa who says "over the past six to 12 months, we've seen a drastic increase in interest among [card] issuers in mobile payments. Several of our issuers are asking about this."

Lee Hyo-sik reports for the Korea Times that, according to the Bank of Korea, "Korean consumers had an average of 3.35 credit and debit cards each as card companies issued about 161 million cards in 2004 when the country’s population stood at about 47 million." This compares with an average of 5.15 cards issued per person in the US,3.05 cards per person in Japan, Singapore with 2.39 and Britain with 2.36.

Binyamin Appelbaum reports for the Charlotte Observer on Wachovia's plans to return to the credit card business on Monday, replacing its earlier deal where MBNA issued cards on its behalf. Following the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America earlier this year, Wachovia exercised its option to pull the card issuing away from MBNA, receiving a $100 MM breakup fee from MBNA in the process. Appelbaum reports that company executives say that Wachovia's "new Visa cards will feature relatively lenient rules and penalties, including absolution for one late payment every 12 months." "We're choosing to play the game differently," said Steve Boehm, Wachovia's head of credit cards.

AccountingWEB.com reports on last week's testimony by attorney W. Stephen Cannon, representing the Merchants Payments Coalition, to the Senate Judiciary committee accusing Visa and MasterCard of violating federal antitrust laws through their practice of setting the interchange rates charged by banks to complete consumer transactions.

• USA Technologies Issued e-Port(R) Patent Applicable to Cashless Vending; Technology Authorizes Credit Card Approval, Item Selection, Price and Inventory Control
• Vanguard Chooses RSA(R) Adaptive Authentication
• Giesecke & Devrient Selects SafeNet to Supply Hardware Security Modules
• New Monopoly version drops paper money, adds debit card
• ING Card Selects Arcot Systems' 3-D Secure(TM) Authentication Technology for Consumer Internet Card Transactions
• Check Fraud Prevention: A2iA And Softpro Combine Technologies In Their First Globally Marketed Check Fraud Prevention Solution
• VASCO Adds 15 New U.S. Banks During Q2 2006

Mercator Advisory Group has released a new report that finds walk-in bill payments represent a significant portion of the recurring bill payment market in the United States. According to Mercator, at the current rate of growth, over $80 billion in walk-in bill payments will be processed by 2009.   » Continue Reading

David Enrich writes for the Wall St. Journal about how the major credit card issuers have been rethinking their marketing strategies and investing more in other channels than mail - even though mail solicitations still account for over half of credit card applications received by issuers.

Ohio Representative Tom Brinkman Jr. writes an opinion piece for Cincinnati.com about the impacts that rising card interchange fees are having on small businesses. According to Brinkman, "these hidden fees drive up the cost of goods and services for all consumers whether they pay with plastic, cash or check, and it makes it difficult for our community retailers to make a living. Some of my community's retailers paid more in interchange fees to Visa and MasterCard than they made in profit. That's not fair and it needs to change."

Chris Woodyard writes for USA TODAY about personalized credit cards. According to Woodyard, "the idea of images of all sorts on credit cards never really caught on until the digital photo revolution, which makes it easy to send a picture via the Internet."

Plaintiff law firms Berger & Montague and Lerach Coughlin have announced that a nationwide settlement agreement has been reached in a consolidated federal class action lawsuit about use of certain payment cards for foreign transactions. Defendants in the case include Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America, Bank One/First USA, Chase, Citibank, Diners Club, HSBC/Household, MBNA and Washington Mutual/Providian. MasterCard this morning has filed an 8-K with the SEC stating it "has agreed to pay $72.48 million, which constitutes its share of defendants' $336 million settlement." As an aside, MasterCard also reported that it had agreed to settle the "Schwartz Matter for $13.44 million, which is expected to be paid in 2007."   » Continue Reading

• Givex and ExaDigm Ensure Connection with Gift and Loyalty Integration
• USA ePay partners with Fi-Soft® for QuickBooks® Credit Card Solutions
• ComBOTS, the new Generation of Personal Digital Communication Chooses GlobalCollect for Global Payment Processing
• WSJ: Citigroup Chief Holds to Growth Amid Cry for Cuts

Zopa, an online exchange for person-to-person lending and borrowing, has announced it has named Phillip J. Riese chairman of Zopa board of directors. The company also announced it has received an additional $5 million in financing from Tim Draper, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the Rowland Family. This adds to the $26 million previously raised from Bessemer Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital and Wellington Partners to fund the company's development.   » Continue Reading

Coinstar has announced Eddie Bauer as the latest addition to its Coin to Card program. Consumers pay no coin-counting fee when converting their loose change to a variety of nationally-branded gift cards and eCertificates at Coinstar Centers. Eddie Bauer is the first apparel eCertificate in the Coin to Card program and it is currently available at more than 6,500 Coinstar supermarket and drug store locations across the United States.   » Continue Reading

CheckFree has announced three new services powered by CashEdge. CheckFree Online Open and CheckFree Online Fund that are designed to help consumers establish and fund new accounts, in a matter of minutes. An automated decision-making engine processes the applications based on the financial institution's unique business rules for managing risk, while flagging any exceptions for manual review. CheckFree Online Transfer enables financial institutions to simplify the transfer of funds between accounts and create new revenue streams by extending their online offerings to include fee-based, intra- and inter- institution fund transfer services between accounts held at more than 23,000 banks, credit unions and brokerages.   » Continue Reading

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Countdown To SEPA: The Clock is Ticking" that it says "provides insight into the future of the European Card market, information on the history, the current state, and the future of SEPA for the Cards project, identifies the stakeholders and examines what they need to do to become SEPA compliant in light of the consultative documents published by authorities and related parties and discusses a number of scenarios based on what we know about SEPA so far and what some of the the stakeholders have signaled to the market."

Matthew Wilde reports from Waterloo, Iowa about an initiative by the Iowa Department of Human Services and the Iowa Farm Bureau who have teamed up to help arrange for free POS terminals statewide for farmers to use to accept cards. "Total Merchant Services of Basalt, Colo. donated machines in return for 12-month service contracts on each one. The machines normally cost between $800 to $1,100. The Farm Bureau is picking up the commercial transaction fees, which will cost the farm organization tens of thousands of dollars, officials said."

Bloomberg reports on the activities of banking industry representatives pressing members of Congress to block approval of a bid by Wal-Mart to open an ILC bank. According to the article, "a coalition of 32 groups, including the American Bankers Association representing the nation's largest banks, sent a letter to every member of Congress urging them to step in before federal banking regulators act on the matter."

• NCR Wins Large ATM Orders from Chinese Banks; China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications select NCR ATM solution
• TransUnion Finds One-Third of Canadians Have Checked Their Credit Prior to Financial Decision
• PULSE Celebrates Quarter Century of Leadership in Electronic Payments; July Marks Silver Anniversary of Pioneer ATM/Debit Network Nearing 10 Billion Transactions
• MobileLime(R) Appoints Former MasterCard SVP Fred Gore to Advisory Role
• Desert Schools Federal Credit Union Selects Bharosa to Provide Fraud Detection and Multifactor Authentication for Online Banking
• Asia Payments Signs Agreement to Acquire Established Consumer Rewards and Payment Card Operations in China
• StoreNext to Offer Hypercom Optimum Multi-Lane Payment Terminals; Independent Grocers Now Have a One-Stop-Shop for Complete EFT Solutions
• Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Hires Michael Yerington as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
• Banco Popular North America Improves Merchant Services with First Data Revenue-Sharing Alliance Agreement

David Enrich reports for Dow Jones Newswires reports on the reduced effectiveness of credit card mail solicitations - reporting that "Just three out of every 1,000 offers generated responses last year, down from about 28 per 1,000 in 1992."

Red Herring takes a look at KushCash (see earlier announcement article) and several other companies also active in the US mobile payments space. The article quotes Julie Ask, a wireless analyst at JupiterResearch, who says “I think what needs to happen is that there needs to be a compelling reason for why I want this. What are the scenarios that I need to be traveling so lightly that I don’t need to take my wallet with me?”

Dianna Dilworth reports on DM News' Special Report on E-Commerce Platforms & Software: Key Trends in E-Commerce. A PDF of the issue is available online.

Gregory M. Lamb writes in today's Christian Science Monitor about Google Checkout, asks some questions about the resulting data that Google may collect from the service, and compares it to PayPal, and suggests "the service may quickly prove attractive to the vast number of online merchants, large and small, who pay to advertise using Google's AdWords program."

In a column titled "E-wallets useful, but can be risky, too", Sucheta Dalal writes for The Financial Express from India about action taken 10 days ago by the Reserve Bank of India asking a "leading media organisation which had launched India’s first electronic wallet to “desist” from offering the service."   » Continue Reading

Secure Wireless Transfers Corporation has announced KushCash, described as "a secure, alternative payment system to traditional methods for instant, easily accessible cash transactions from anywhere-at events, retail malls, public locations, in transit, or on campus."   » Continue Reading

Zimmerman Advertising has announced that it is working with PayPal to help brand marketers integrate PayPal Mobile into their advertising and marketing campaigns. PayPal Mobile, announced April 6th, is a text message-based service that allows consumers to send money anytime, from anywhere, using their mobile telephones.   » Continue Reading

TransUnion and Edgar, Dunn & Company have announced they are developing the PaymentDynamics 2006 Preferred Payments Study, intended to be the "first of its kind to combine consumer payment attitudes, behavior and credit information." Results from the study are expected beginning in the fourth quarter of 2006.   » Continue Reading

Metavante has announced the availability of its new expedited payments solution, Just Pay It ® Convenience, that enables billers to accept credit and debit cards, PIN-less debit and electronic checks processed through ACH.   » Continue Reading

PNC Bank has announced a new online deposit service designed for small businesses that will allow them to initiate the electronic deposit of received checks directly into their bank account with automatically updated accounting records via BankServ's Deposit Now! A/R, a new remote deposit product linked to Intuit’s QuickBooks.   » Continue Reading

In the article "Paper checks convert to digital - E-checks become popular transaction tool", The Coloradoan's reporter Deon Hampton writes about the increasing use of check conversion at merchant point-of-sale locations and says that "many people ... are intrigued, confused and mystified by the new form of check payment that is popping up not only at shopping centers but also at locally owned establishments."

Rick Rothacker reports for the Charlotte Observer that Charlotte, NC-based banks will cross over $2 trillion in assets following the closing of the acquisition of Golden West Financial by Wachovia later this year. Charlotte remains number 2 in assets following New York City-headquartered institutions with $3.1 trillion in total assets.

Rick Rothacker writes for the Charlotte Observer that some banks are "extending their deadlines for crediting accounts on the same day, spurred by advances in technology and competition for customers. Later cutoff times -- typically the close of business -- mean consumers and businesses collect interest a day earlier and sometimes have quicker access to their money. Banks, however, may still put holds on checks until the next day or later."

• Global Payments and HSBC Finalize Joint Venture in the Asia-Pacific Region
• American Express Second Quarter Earnings from Continuing Operations Rise 13%
• Wachovia Names Carlos Evans Head of Wholesale Banking
• Dynamic Card Solutions Signs 250th Customer; Citizens Commerce National Bank and DCS Partner to Offer Instant Issuance in Kentucky
• Worldwide Demand for Fair Isaac's Global FICO(R) Score is Strong and Growing
• nCipher's Key Management Solution Removes Barriers to Widespread Data Encryption
• NFC Forum Announces HP as Sponsor Member
• CyberSource Brings Fraud Protection to European Direct Debit Purchasing

Ayesha Rascoe writes for North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal about how quaint checkbooks are becoming. "The beginning of the end of the check is the growing consumer acceptance of debit cards," said Tony Plath, a professor of finance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Jane Bryant Quinn writes in her weekly column for Newsweek saying that "while the pundits wring their hands over the rise in credit-card debt, consumers are quietly finding another, less worrisome path. We're fast becoming a debit-card nation."

CRN India reports that PayMate India has launched an exclusive mobile payment solution in coordination with Citibank and Euronet. "With this service, our customers can now conveniently make routine purchases using their mobile phone itself," said Vijay Ramchandran, country marketing director and head, Internet Banking, Citibank India.

Stephen Mihm writes for Sunday's New York Times Magazine about North Korea's counterfeiting of US currency.

Toronto-based Dexit has announced (PDF) that it has formed a Special Committee of the Board "in response to overtures from several potential strategic investment partners" to review strategic options. Dexit also has implemented an "optimization plan" that includes reducing staff from 55 to under 30 as well as scaling back the number of locations at which the Dexit Service is available in the Toronto area. The Dexit Service "enables consumers to pay for a variety of low-cost items quickly and conveniently with the tap of a RFID (radio frequency identification) tag linked to a pre-paid account."   » Continue Reading

Today is the last day for discounted early bird registration for ID Analytics' Identity 2006 Identity Risk Management Conference being held September 18-21 at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, California.

The latest Nilson Report has arrived featuring an in-depth look at commercial credit cards in the US market (subscription only). This issue also has articles discussing TSYS' acquisition of Card Tech Limited, Bank of America's new American Express card, Tyfone's mobile payments, and Cydelity's eSentry online fraud detection service for online banking.

The Smart Card Alliance has announced its annual conference will be held October 3-6, 2006 at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla in San Diego. The theme of this year's conference is "Preparing the Way for a Smart Future".

Convenience Store News reports on testimony given at Wednesday's US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on credit card interchange fees citing the comments of National Association of Convenience Stores Executive Committee member and 2004-2005 Chairman Bill Douglass, CEO of Douglass Distributing Co. According to Douglass, “I want to emphasize that the market by which interchange fees are set is broken and something must be done to fix it. The courts have said that Visa and MasterCard have market power, and I will tell you that the agreements among their member banks to fix and charge the same fees are outrageous.”

Michael Clarke writes for the UK's ThisIsMoney.co.uk about Zopa's "zone of possible agreement" borrower/lender matchmaking service. Clarke says "Zopa claims that the service is like investing in another asset class, other than shares, property or cash, that will give a portfolio more diversification."

MasterCard reports that its PayPass users are "showing a marked change in their behavior while making their small, everyday purchases."   » Continue Reading

The prepared testimony from Wednesday's US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Credit Card Interchange Fees: Antitrust Concerns?" is now available from the committee's website. Included is testimony from Bill Douglass (Chief Executive Officer, Douglass Distributing, Sherman, TX), Kathy Miller (Owner, The Elmore Store, Elmore, VT), Joshua R. Floum (Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Visa U.S.A., Washington, DC), Joshua L. Peirez (Group Executive Global Public Policy and Associate General Counsel, MasterCard Worldwide, Purchase, NY), Timothy J. Muris (Former Chairman, Federal Trade Commission, Of Counsel, O’Melveny & Meyers, Washington, DC), and W. Stephen Cannon (President and Managing Partner, Constantine Cannon, Washington, DC ).

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the launch of the first European MasterCard PayPass credit cards, in partnership with Garanti Bank in Turkey. Beginning 20 July, Garanti bank will reissue 25,000 “Tap & Go” cards, using MasterCard PayPass technology, to its Bonus cardholders. Starbucks, Burger King and Cinebonus, Turkey's largest cinema chain, have signed up to accept MasterCard PayPass in Turkey. [Editor's note: Earlier this year, we had featured the innovative work Garanti Bank in Turkey was doing with its Flexi Card Visa offering.]   » Continue Reading

• ChipIn to Transform “Social Money” with Launch Of Event Widget
• Zions Internet Banking to Offer Enhanced ID-Theft Protection Through Two-Factor Authentication in Idaho
• New E-payment Company Opens In Shanghai
• Martin McKeay's Blog: Responsible Disclosure? - Paypal vulnerable for two years
• TD Banknorth Offers Business Clients New Remote Electronic Check Deposit Capabilities and Investment Sweep Options

Entrust announced they have acquired Business Signatures Corporation, the provider of "Zero Touch Fraud Detection" solutions.

eBay reported second quarter 2006 financial results yesterday including impressive results for its PayPal business that reported revenues up 39% and payment volume up 37% year-over-year. Highlights from PayPal's second quarter include:

• Payments net revenues totaled $339 million in Q2-06, representing 39% year-over-year growth.
• PayPal had 114 million total payments accounts at the end of Q2-06, a 44% increase from the 79 million reported at the end of Q2-05.
• Total Payment Volume (TPV), the dollar volume of payments initiated through the PayPal system, excluding the payment gateway business, was $9 billion in Q2-06, a 37% increase from the $6 billion reported in Q2-05.

Billeo has announced what it says is the largest online biller directory with over 5,200 entries. The Billeo directory consists of billers accepting online payments across 26 different categories -- half accept payment cards, and nearly all accept eChecks. Billeo is currently providing the biller directory search for Visa USA and twenty other banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Wachovia.

• ABN Amro Introduces Voice Recognition
• RSA Adaptive Authentication Selected by Zions Bancorporation

Booz Allen Hamilton discusses the impact of Google Checkout on the eCommerce market in the UK and concludes that the market for online payments will consolidate around Google Checkout, PayPal, and 1-2 others major players.

If existing providers (predominantly the card issuers and acquirers) do not find an effective counter strategy we believe they could lose 10-20% by 2008 and in the long term up to 30%.

A new survey, conducted by Ipsos Insight and Peppercoin, explores the willingness of Americans to use contactless payments to pay for inexpensive items.

More than 50 percent of respondents, which translates into more than 100 million Americans, would use contactless cards to buy gasoline, items from fast food restaurants or corporate cafeterias, or groceries. More than 40 percent would use contactless cards to pay for convenience store items and transit fares (subway and bus fares and tolls). Almost 40 percent would use contactless cards to buy coffee or pay for parking, and 30 percent (60 million Americans) would use contactless cards for video games or at a vending machine or kiosk.

Jay Loomis of The Journal News covers the MasterCard annual shareholders meeting as a local story. From a