With that subtitle, Chase has officially launched Chase Mobile, saying it's the "first major US bank to introduce mobile banking using cell phone text messaging to give customers account information on demand."

NACHA has announced the formation of a "green coalition" to educate consumers about the positive environmental impacts of choosing electronic bills, statements, and payments over paper. The leadership partners include Bank of America, CheckFree, Citibank, Citizens Bank, EPN, the Federal Reserve Banks, Fiserv, JPMorgan Chase, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and U.S. Bank.

The San Francisco Chronicle writes an editorial in favor of Assembly Bill 779 authored by Assemblyman Dave Jones. The bill has passed both houses of the California legislature and is awaiting signing by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Retailers are urging the governor not to sign the bill.

Among other requirements in the bill that mostly mirror those of PCI-DSS including a requirement that retailers in the state encrypt the transmission of payment-related data. Beginning July 1, 2008 in California, one cannot "send payment-related data over open, public networks unless the data is encrypted using strong cryptography and security protocols or otherwise rendered indecipherable." Payment-related data is defined as "account number, credit or debit card number, in combination with any required security code, access code, or password that would permit access to an individual's financial account."

India's Economic Times examines the growth in usage of payment cards in India - both debit and credit cards. "There are currently 25 million credit cards in India and ICICI Bank is the largest player with 8.5 million cards issued. Citibank, SBI-GE Card and HDFC Bank are the other prominent players in the sector."

A new report titled "Transforming Data into Insight: Enhancing Customer Relationships and Bank Profits" from Aite Group, LLC "examines opportunities to gather and analyze the relationship and transaction data on both aggregated groups of customers and individual bank customers to enhance the comprehensive 360° view of the customer and to improve key business processes, such as new account opening and account management."

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