We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Mark Treco has been named Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Peppercoin. Phone: +1.781.890.3800. Treco comes to Peppercoin from VeriFone where he spent over 13 years, most recently as general manager of VeriFone's retail division where he sold integrated payment technology to the top 300 retail chains in the US.

Michele Heller writes for the McClatchy News Service about why retailers want to own their own "industrial" banks and why Washington policymakes are nervous. Heller says the "real difference between banks and ILCs is in their ownership and regulation. Nonfinancial companies may not own banks, but they can operate ILCs. Banks cannot own or be owned by nonfinancial commercial firms. The Federal Reserve regulates the corporate owners of banks but does not have oversight of commercial companies that own ILCs."

Paul Gores reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the benefits and the risks of building a credit history from using credit cards. According to Gores, "the trouble is that many won't realize what they're really doing when they use plastic. They're making purchases by borrowing at high interest rates and, at the same time, establishing a credit history that will follow them for years."

Nic Cicutti writes for the Scotland's Sunday Herald about steps being taken by banks and major merchants in the Scotland to upgrade ATMs in an effort to fight the use of counterfeit cards. Cicutti quotes a spokeman from the Bank of Scotland who says “what makes skimming possible is the ease with which it is possible to copy the magnetic strips on the back of customers’ cards. ... But cards with magnetic strips are gradually being phased out and we expect that the growing use of chip-only cards will ensure that copying chips is not possible, because they are encrypted.”

The London Sunday Times profiles Experian and its CEO Don Robert. "Robert is bringing Experian, the huge American credit-checking and business-services group that he heads, to England and a flotation next month on the London Stock Exchange."

Rick Rothacker of the Charlotte Observer interviews Wachovia's CEO Ken Thompson about how he balances his work and family life.