Commerce Bank says we should "indulge the ones you love this Valentine's Day by letting them choose the gifts they want. Your flowers and candy will smell better and taste sweeter when given with a Commerce Gift Card." Using a unique strategy among bankers, Commerce Bank sells the instant-issue Commerce Gift Cards for free - already "elegantly packaged in a signature red box and tied with a white satin ribbon" - through any of the bank's 430 retail locations.

Online Financial Innovations has announced the launch of NetBanker, a new free website featuring daily insights from the authors of the Online Banking Report. Congratulations to Jim Bruene of OBR on the launch of this great new service!

Celebrating its one year anniversary, Prosper.com this morning announced a series of enhancements to its service including bringing customer service in-house in San Francisco (from offshore), enabling borrowers to gain credibility from personal endorsements by friends and family, and providing lends with six additional credit data fields from Experian to help evaluate a borrower's loan request.

The Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation have announced the appointment of Mark P. O'Connell as President and CEO, effective February 7, 2007, saying he will focus on innovation in payment services and advancing Acxsys Corporation's and Interac Association's leadership in the industry. Most recently he was Executive Vice President, Finance Market at Emergis Inc., and for the past two years, he was Emergis Inc.'s appointee to the Interac Association Board of Directors.

The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association focused on advancing the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, has released a white paper titled "Near Field Communication and the NFC Forum: The Keys to Truly Interoperable Communications" (PDF) that highlights the "capabilities of NFC technology and its potential to transform consumers’ everyday lives."

Leslie Pappas reports for the Wilmington News Journal on increasing debit card fraud - particularly using counterfeit cards created by skimming the magnetic stripe information off of legitimate cards. Pappas points out that "Europe, Asia, and now Canada and Mexico, are making the transition to cards equipped with computer chips and PIN numbers, which add an extra layer of security."

Update: 5/15/07 - Visa names Joseph Saunders as Chairman and CEO of Visa Inc.

Visa has announced that Joseph W. Saunders has been named Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Visa Inc. According to Visa, "Saunders will be responsible for leading Visa's transition to a global public company. He also will help recruit a chief executive officer and board members for Visa Inc." Saunders is leaving Washington Mutual where Anthony (Tony) F. Vuoto has been named president of the company's credit card business.

The GSM Association has announced it is working with MasterCard to launch a pilot programme aimed at "tapping the ubiquity and ease-of-use of mobile communications to enable the world's 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents, many of whom don't have bank accounts. By exploiting the extensive reach of the mobile networks, the programme will complement existing local remittances channels and make transferring money internationally significantly more affordable." A part of the announcement, MasterCard has made available a Unbanked and Underbanked Backgrounder, saying that "Under the agreement with GSMA, MasterCard intends to provide various payment card products as well as the international transaction switching, clearing and settlement for the MasterCard® Money Send™ transfer service via its single, globally integrated network."

• NASCO Selects Evolution Benefits’ Prepaid Card Technology To Help Its Customers Manage CDHC Benefits
• Fiserv to Demonstrate Electronic Check Conversion Solutions at BAI Conference in Orlando
• Acacia Technologies Licenses Credit Card Fraud Protection Technology to Linens ‘n Things
• Leading Northwest Credit Union Chooses BioPassword for Cost-Effective Multi-Factor Authentication
• INSIDE Contactless Presents Next Generation NFC Services at 3GSM World Congress, Barcelona
• ACS Wins $14 Million Contract to Provide Contactless Ticketing System in Marseilles, France
• Nomad, Europe's Leading Prepaid Card Processor, Exhibits at Prepaid Card Expo 2007
• Infineon to Provide Contactless Chips for Select MasterCard Global Payment Schemes
• bcgi Payment Manager Enables Cross-Border Prepaid Top-Up and Roaming Recharge
• Creative Payment Solutions Goes into Production with Carreker's Web Capture Product with Multiple Financial Institutions
• Chase Card Services Gives Cardmembers the Freedom to Make a Difference with the American Cancer Society
• eFunds Partners with Digital Harbor to Help Financial Institutions Manage Fraud
• First American SMS Deploys Parascript and Aperta Technology to Increase Processing Speed and Accuracy