Google Checkout has launched consumer promotions for Valentine's Day. "Through February 15, first-time shoppers on Google Checkout will receive $10 off a one-time purchase of at least $10. This offer is being featured on a wide variety of Google Checkout's thousands of merchant partners, including Buy.com, Zales, Jockey, Bluefly, Aeropostale, and new partner Blue Nile." Google is highlighting the consumer convenience benefits of Google Checkout saying that it "eliminates an average of 15 steps from the online checkout process, in many cases making checking out as simple as entering a single login."

ViVOtech has announced the f"irst deployment of an end-to-end NFC payment and promotion infrastructure software in Taiwan as part of a joint initiative by MasterCard, Taipei Fubon Bank and Taiwan Mobile. The three companies are launching a broad NFC mobile phone payment pilot program based on ViVOtech technologies in the region."

Yesterday, Marketplace, a business news radio program from American Public Media, had a segment all about peer-to-peer lending - in particular about Prosper.com. A transcript of the segment is available online along with the audio that you can listen to online. The segment is introduced with the comment: "banks, credit card companies and those payday loan centers make billions of dollars every year lending us money. But why should they get all the profit?"

The organization America's Community Bankers has announced results of a recent survey of its community bank membership reporting that "data security continues to be a significant issue for community banks and their customers, and that card network and congressional action is necessary to address this far-reaching problem."

Leslie Pappas reports for the Wilmington News Journal that Chase Card Services last year pulled ahead of Bank of America to become the largest US issuer of Visa and Mastercard cards (based upon receivables outstanding) - but Bank of America still remains the largest credit card issuer when the bank's new American Express card portfolio is added in.

Corillian has announced it is integrating support for Windows CardSpace into its online banking products. Windows CardSpace is a component of the .NET Framework 3.0, available on Windows Vista and Windows XP, which helps store a person’s digital identity in a security-enhanced manner, and provides a unified interface for choosing the identity for a particular transaction, such as logging in to a Web site.

The Merchant Risk Council has announced it has named 15 online retail and technology professionals to serve on the non-profit organization’s board of directors for 2007. The board will be responsible for oversight of committees focusing on strategy, finance, revenue, and growth management for domestic and international expansion.

• MoMIT event: PayPal Mobile comes to MIT
• Western Union Creates New Units to Allow for Greater Focus Throughout the Americas
• Fair Isaac Names James Kirsner to Board of Directors
• PayPal CSO: Phishing Threat Overstated
• Bharosa Joins Forces With Financial Services Technology Consortium to Contribute to 2007 Anti-Fraud Initiatives
• New Ping Identity® Apache CardSpace Module Brings Information Cards to the Lamp Stack
• Green Armor: M.I.T.-Harvard Research Paper Underscores the Importance of Leveraging Psychology in the Design of Online Authentication Systems
• Arcot Announces Support for Windows CardSpace
• BankServ Offers System for Online Bank Deposits Through Windows Vista
• FTVentures Names New Partners Eric Byunn and Chris Winship
• Creative Benefits Completes Integration with First Data and UMB
• Western Union Increases Philippines Footprint