CyberSource and Authorize.Net have announced the signing of a definitive agreement for CyberSource to acquire Authorize.Net in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $565 million - about a 20 percent premium over the market value of Authorize.Net at the market close last Friday.

NetDeposit has announced "it has been awarded two new patents, Nos. 7,181,430 and 7,216,106, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the processes and technologies involved in remote electronic presentment of all types of checks. The patents cover NetDeposit's array of software products and services, which enable electronic check presentment and payment."

Tyfone has announced the launch of Rhapsody - a unified middleware platform designed for retail banks to leverage their channel, card and merchant assets by providing secure mobile services to their customers.

Margaret Price writes for the Christian Science Monitor how some credit card issuers are responding to increased scrutiny of the industry's practices by Congress with better deals for card holders.

In an article titled 'Confusion at the pump as credit cards limit gas purchases", Ieva M. Augstums writes for the AP about how credit card authorization practices have collided with higher gasoline prices to create frustrations for cardholders - especially those owning SUV's. Like many Associated Press stories, this story ran repeatedly over the weekend in many newspapers across the country.

• CIBC World Markets Analyst Says Buyout Streak in Electronic Payments Likely to Continue
• Heartland Advances Micro-Payments Strategy with Acquisition of eSecure Peripherals and Hiring of Industry Leaders
• Fifth Third Processing Solutions Earns Visa(R) Service Quality Award
• Bankrate.com: Credit scoring demystified, 45% of Consumers Don't Know Their Credit Score
• Dynamic Card Solutions Launches CardWizard® Chip Card Components for EMV™ Instant Issuance

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• 
  Anre Williams has been named President, Global Commercial Card, and Valerie Soranno Keating has been named Executive Vice President, Global Marketing & Source-to-Settle - both at American Express.
• Gordon Smith has been named as head of Chase Card Services succeeding Richard Srednicki who is retiring. Mr. Smith has spent his entire career – more than 25 years – with American Express, having led and managed most of the company’s major businesses in the United States and around the world.