American Express Incentive Services and Givex have announced they have entered into a licensing agreement under which Givex will license two AEIS patents (U.S. Patent Numbers 5,689,100 and 5,956,695) that enable AEIS’ patented merchant acceptance feature, DirectSpend, to strategically direct cardholder spend to selected merchants.

Chase Card Services has announced "the expansion of Chase Clear & Simple, an ongoing program designed to help Chase customers better understand and manage their accounts, with 10 consumer-friendly initiatives. In addition, Chase is launching an online site, www.chaseclearandsimple.com that will feature tools and information to empower customers."

Google Checkout has posted a success story describing how Ritz Interactive grew its Q4 2006 revenues by using Google Checkout's promotions. "After implementing Google Checkout, site traffic increased more than 40% and overall cart conversion rates improved 35%."

Visa USA has announced a new small business spending report titled "Visa Small Business Spend Insights" that concludes that, while small businesses remain relatively bullish about revenue growth, increasing expenditures on energy, healthcare and taxes are pressing concerns for small business owners. Visa will be publishing the report on a quarterly basis to provide a "comprehensive view of the U.S. small business climate by combining a poll of U.S. small businesses with the most current Visa spending data on small business cards."

Bank of America has announced it has launched an effort to "arm customers with integrated tools and resources to stay ahead of their accounts, keep tabs on their balances and better manage their financial lives." The bank has launched an online advertising campaign with the theme "A Little Knowledge Is a Powerful Thing" to help educate consumers about tools available to provide them with more information about their accounts.

Over on PaymentsJobs.com, several new job postings have arrived including:

• BB&T Bank is searching for a Payment Service Product Group Manager based in Charlotte, NC
• GlobalCollect Services USA is seeking an Internet Commerce Business Development Manager based in San Francisco, CA
• Tempo Payments in San Mateo, CA is searching for a Product Manager

More than 8 in 10 Americans view their credit cards as “an easy way to get into debt,” according to the a report titled Taking Charge: America’s Relationship with Credit Cards. The benchmark report delves into aspects of credit cards’ role in people’s lives: how Americans use, manage, understand, select, and feel about credit cards.

Richard J. Sullivan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has published an article titled "Risk Management and Non-Bank Participation in the US Retail Payments System" (PDF).

Jim Bruene of Online Banking Report has announced the launch of a new blog focused on mobile banking and payments. Jim says "we believe that mobile banking and payments are where online banking was in the mid-90s, about to jump from a nice-to-have to must-have status."

E4X has announced FiftyOne, a global ecommerce solution it says is designed to overcome the complexities of cross-border ecommerce and help online retailers sell internationally with no more effort than selling domestically.

Jonathan Birchall reports for the Financial TImes on plans by Wal-Mart to launch a new "payments card aimed at the estimated 80m US residents who do not have access to a bank account." According to the report, the card will be a Visa Prepaid card issued in partnership with GE Money. In a related article, Kris Hudson reports for the Wall St. Journal about Wal-Mart's plans to add more Wal-Mart MoneyCenters to its stores to provide check cashing and money transfers to customers.

• UPEK and Pay By Touch co-host Digital Identity Showcase
• Cardtronics to Acquire ATM Portfolio from 7-Eleven
• Actimize Unveils Employee Fraud Prevention Solution
• First Data International Extends Agreement with Laurentian Bank of Canada