mBlox and O2 have announced they'll be holding a seminar next Tuesday, September 26, in London to discuss "Mobile Banking: The 5th Channel To Customers". "Attendees on the day can expect detailed information on: the financial benefits of mobile banking; how to ensure customers have the best possible experience of mobile banking and a case study from MasterCard that demonstrates how SMS can help cut fraud. Speakers are confirmed from mBlox, LogicaCMG, MasterCard Worldwide, Garanti Bank, Informa Telecoms and Media and O2."

Raleigh, NC-based State Employees' Credit Union has introduced a new enhancement to its credit card payment program that allows cardholders to select a different fixed percentage amount for their minimum monthly payment. According to the credit union, the change was made to accommodate members who want to more aggressively reduce their credit card debt. Prior to the recent enhancement, the minimum payment default amount was 3% of the credit card balance. With the new option, members may now choose to have their default percentage set at an increased percentage amount of 4%, 5% or 6% of their balance. SECU also offers an "Auto Pay" feature that automatically drafts the minimum credit card payment from an SECU account to assure there is never a delinquency.

Earlier today, First Data Corp. held an Investor and Analyst Conference in New York City. A replay of the webcast of the conference will be available for listening to for the next few days. The presentation slides (PPT) are also available online.

Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, gave a speech at the EFMA Cards and Payments Conference in which she looked at the future of retail payments in Europe. Among her comments, she says "the experience in Norway is a good indication that cards can become a good replacement for cash as long as they become a more convenient payment instrument than cash." Both the text and presentation slides (PDF) from her speech are available online. Her slides include one very interesting graph showing the consumer payment preferences in France based upon the amount of the purchase.

Sarmad Ali writes for today's Wall St. Journal about how SMS-based text messaging is the latest way consumers are ordering their morning coffee (and more) while in-bound to the office. Ali writes about New York-based Mobo Systems, Menlo Park-based MyTango, and UK-based Software For Restaurants and their different flavors of remote order and pay. Several years ago, a Seattle-based company named Ontain pioneered remote order and pay services (using a simple IVR approach instead of SMS-based text messaging) and conducted several trials in various markets with, among others, Starbucks. Ontain's approach failed to achieve commercial success, however, and likely was one of those cases of being ahead of its time.

Amy Hook of MarketWatch reports in today's Wall St. Journal about a slight downward trend in credit card balances of college students. Several recent articles have highlighted a decline in the acceptance of credit cards by colleges and universities for tuition payments - as university administrators are steering students to pay tuition bills using electronic checks instead of cards and, in the process, saving merchant card discount fees the universities would otherwise have to pay.

First Data International has announced a strategic, long-term agreement with Barclaycard, the UK-based international cards and lending business. Under the terms of the agreement, First Data International will provide credit card and loans processing for Barclaycard's new partnership programmes in the UK on its VisionPLUS processing platform, as well as a full range of contact centre services and managed services to include plastics personalisation, applications processing, payment processing, statements, letters and PIN mailers. Barclaycard intends to migrate existing partnership programmes and other portfolios to the VisionPLUS platform over time.   » Continue Reading

Morgan Stanley reported financial results for its third quarter ending August 31 - including results for its Discover card business unit. According to the company, "net sales volume was a record $25.7 billion, a 15 percent increase from a year ago, reflecting increased cardmember usage and the acquisition of the Goldfish credit card business."

Verid recently announced a deal with RSA Security to incorporate Verid's KBA (Knowledge Based Authentication) solution into RSA's "adaptive authentication" product suite. Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson spoke yesterday with Kevin Watson, Chairman & CEO of Verid, to learn more about KBA and the company.   » Continue Reading

• Fiserv Technology Reduces Check Transportation and Deposit Preparation Costs
• Third Annual American Express Platinum Luxury Survey Finds Today's Affluent Children Are Culturally Aware, Responsible Consumers
• Ruesch International Initiates Strategic Global Partnership with NAFSA: Association of International Educators
• SmartPay Launches Mobile Airlines Ticketing in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
• M&T Bank Selects Corillian to Provide Strong Online Authentication Services for Consumer and Small Business Customers
• Diebold and Source Technologies Create Kiosk Service Partnership
• Telecom Italia Taps Zigbee for MCommerce
• UseMyBank Services Joins NACHA Internet Council
• Irish electronic gift card sales to reach €1bn
• RR Donnelley To Acquire Financial Printing Business From Canadian Bank Note Company
• VASCO First Company to Receive Full Belgian EPCI Certification for Its Digipass 810 Card Reader

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• Barry Davis, a former principal of First Annapolis Consulting, has been named head of business development for RapidAdvance, a Bethesda, Maryland-based company that provides working capital to small to medium sized merchants. Phone: +1.240.514.2000 ext. 121.