The Sunday San Francisco Chronicle business section included an interview with John Stumpf, president and CEO of Wells Fargo & Co.

In an article titled 'Payments: En Garde! The Clash of Banks, PayPal", Lee Conrad writes for Bank Technology News about PayPal - saying that "industry veterans say they know a rival when they see it."

The corporate parent of NetBank filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday following the takeover of its wholly owned savings bank by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation at the direction of the Office of Thrift Supervision. According to the FDIC, "all insured depositors are now customers of ING Bank, fsb (ING DIRECT), member FDIC."

The Deloitte Center for Banking Solutions has published a hew paper titled “Is the retail payments industry headed for disruption?” . The paper "focuses on how retail payments for consumers and merchants is in overshoot and vulnerable to “disruptive innovation” — our term for an innovation that changes the competitive framework within an industry. The study also provides insights on how retail payment players can leverage their brand recognition, infrastructure, volume and profitability to help turn the search-to-purchase experience to their advantage."

Edgar, Dunn and Company's latest INSIGHT newsletter is now available with a feature article titled "The Race is On in Prepaid" by Mark Beresford and Steve Karp. "While no prepaid product has reached any significant level of dominance, important incremental victories are being won. Likewise, enough prepaid products have misfired at this point that we can see some lessons in the experiences of the non-starters."

Grameen American and Experian have announced the two companies have established "a unique data reporting relationship to support Grameen America's business" that will "enable Grameen America's borrowers to establish their credit files and will provide the foundation for building the borrowers' credit scores allowing access to financial services previously not available."   » Continue Reading

I recently purchased an Apple iPod touch - and when it arrived a couple of days ago I was struck by how it looked a bit like a large-ish credit card - especially when turned on its side. Got me wondering what this fascinating chunk of technology might look like - and be capable of - in another 5 or 10 years.   » Continue Reading

APACS, the UK payments association, has launched two new advice guides "offering practical advice on choosing a plastic card for a teenager or young adult. One of the guides, Choosing cards - a guide for the under 18s , is aimed at young people, and the other, Using cards - a guide for parents , is for their parents. These form part of a series of consumer advice guides produced by APACS aimed at simplifying personal finance."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'For-Credit Course", Rob Walker writes for this Sunday's New York Times Magazine about Chase Card Services "+1" credit card - offered primarily by way of a sponsored group setup on Facebook called Chase +1. Chase limits access to the group so that only Facebook members who are part of college networks can join. Chase also has a Chase Credit Education group on Facebook that is open membership.

Public Citizen has published a report titled "The Arbitration Trap: How Credit Card Companies Ensnare Consumers" (PDF). In a press release, the organization said "Public Citizen pulls back the curtain to reveal the cozy and dangerous relationship between credit card companies and the private arbitration firms that decide their binding mandatory arbitration cases. The result of an eight-month investigation, the report provides, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of data on nearly 34,000 arbitration cases, and in-depth stories of credit cardholders and their struggles in this nightmarish system."

AT&T has added a page to its website describing the mobile banking services it is introducing in partnership with Firethorn as part of a strategic alliance announced last November. The page features a banner saying "Safe Banking on the Go", emphasizing security and lists BancorpSouth as currently offering mobile banking with Wachovia, SunTrust, Synovus, and 1st Bank listed as "coming soon". Brandon McGee writes a bit about it on the Mobile Money & Banking blog.

Julie Schieffer writes for Financial News about steps being taken to improve the fraud risk management of the automated clearing house system in the US.

• U.S. Banker Ranks the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking
• Medical Card System, Inc. Selects Catalyst Rx to Provide Pharmacy Benefit Management Services
• Citi and Expedia Expand Relationship to Include Credit Cards
• USA Today: Citi sends unrequested credit cards

Tempo announced a new decoupled debit strategy called Tempo Debit about two months ago. We recently asked Tempo Payments CEO Mike Grossman for an update on his company's activities since that announcement. Our Q&A exchange with him follows.   » Continue Reading

Saying that he saw a "state of disequilibrium when it comes to consumer protection for credit cards", Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said today that "consumers should be given the opportunity to “opt out” of certain credit card rate increases and be given the alternative of paying off the card balance at the old rate."   » Continue Reading

Google has announced Google Checkout for Non-Profits - saying "with this launch, U.S. non-profit organizations (IRS-certified 501(c)(3)s) now have an easy way to accept online donations, and donors have a fast and secure way to support their favorite groups. The best part: it's completely free for the organizations. Through at least the end of 2008, non-profits will pay 0% + 0 cents in transaction fees for each donation they accept through Checkout." More details here.

Wachovia has announced expansion of its treasury solutions for the healthcare industry with the addition of PatientPOS, calling it "an innovative solution proven to improve revenue cycle management for healthcare providers."   » Continue Reading

Monitise has announced its current global product suite for 2008 - saying that its "new range of services have been developed by Monitise on the basis of the requirements of its key partners and its view of the expanding demands of the consumer in this rapidly developing market space."   » Continue Reading

Joanna Pachner writes for Canada's Globe and Mail about contactless payments - saying that "perhaps the real breakthrough will happen with the next generation of contactless technology, already growing fast in Asia: mobile commerce, employing a new generation of cellphones equipped with near-field communication (NFC) chips."

BidPay has announced that online sellers and third party developers can now integrate BidPay as a payment option on their checkout pages allowing sellers to use BidPay as an alternative payment service across all online marketplaces from auctions to traditional Web stores.   » Continue Reading

• Shell Platinum MasterCard Will Offer New Cardholders More Savings Through Everyday Purchases
• NCR Offers New Energy-Efficient Dual-Core Technology for ATMs and Point-of-Sale Solutions
• First Horizon Msaver and TSYS Team Up
• American Express Announces New Travel Program for Gold Card Members that Provides Access to Exclusive Amenities, Value and Experiences
• Alliance Data's Loyalty Business Expands Relationship With Canada's Leading Home Improvement Retailer and Distributor

The FiveCentNickel blog has a useful post about the personal finance things you can do with your smartphone while on the go - some SMS-based, some browser-based.

The full text of TJX data breach analysis report produced the Canadian Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta is available online.

VeriFone has announced that its annual Retail Payments Conference will be held October 17-19 at the Don Cesar Resort in St. Pete Beach, FL. "The Retail Payments Conference is the only event that focuses on payment security, payment standards and emerging payment trends from a retailer and a retail systems integration perspective."   » Continue Reading

The American Bankers Association reports today that credit card loan delinquencies fell slightly in the second quarter of 2007, according to its Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin. "Late payments on credit cards were 4.39 percent of all accounts in the second quarter, compared to 4.41 percent in the first quarter of this year (seasonally adjusted). The ABA report defines late payments as 30 days or more overdue."   » Continue Reading

Ana Escalante blogs about attending a conference last week on mobile banking - and learning about the mobile banking service in the Philippines called G-Cash.

Visa and Experian announced an alliance to create unique risk management products for financial institutions. According to the companies, "the alliance intends to deliver a series of jointly developed risk management products designed to help financial institutions reduce credit and fraud risk losses."   » Continue Reading

With the headline "Banking fees soar again in 9th Annual Checking Study", Bankrate.com has published the results of its latest survey of fees associated with bank checking accounts. Among its findings, the survey reported that "the average cost of a bounced check, often referred to as a nonsufficient funds fee, climbed 3 percent since last year's survey to a record high of $28.23."

Visa has announced the availability of the Visa Micro Tag, a new key fob payment device embedded with Visa payWave, Visa's contactless technology feature. The Visa Micro Tag is designed to easily attach to a key ring, and allows cardholders to pay by simply waving their Visa Micro Tag in front of a contactless payment terminal without the need to physically swipe or insert the device into a point-of-sale terminal.   » Continue Reading

Is there a positive business case for bankers to spend money on enabling mobile banking services for their customers? In an article titled 'Mobile Banking: Where's the Business Case?", Karen Epper Hoffman writes for BAI's Banking Strategies magazine about the question. A sidebar discusses one of the key cost drivers for bankers - whether to take a web browser-based approach to mobile banking or the "on deck" rich application approach that involves having to work with the wireless operators. Jim Bruene says the business case question really doesn't matter - writing that "banks have no choice in the mobile matter."

Jeffrey Selingo reports for the New York Times about merchant frustrations with the costs of credit card acceptance - as "small businesses in particular complain that their profits are squeezed by card-related fees."

Joseph Pereira writes for the Wall St. Journal about the findings of a Canadian government investigation looking into the payment card security breach at TJX.

• Equifax Fraud Solutions Help Businesses Win the Fight Against Fraud
• TSYS Acquiring Solutions to Provide Merchant Processing Services to Veracity Payment Solutions
• Fremont Bank Selects Laru Corporation’s ACH Clarity to Monitor ACH Network Traffic
• CreditCards.com Provides Credit Card Search Engine to ShopLocal
• PayPal Pay Later Now Supported By AspDotNetStorefront
• Barclays and US Airways Launch the New US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard BusinessCard
• TransUnion Expands Authorized User Solution Offerings to Help Financial Industry Assess Customers' True Risk Throughout Credit Lifecycle
• ING to Power All U.S. Operations with Wind Power
• Frost & Sullivan: "On-the-Go" Access to Financial Services Drives Growth of Mobile Payment and Banking Services
• First Data Integrates Austin Logistics' Predictive Analytic EarlyDetection System(TM) Into Its VisionPLUS(R) Payment Processing System in China
• Bankers On First Data Deal Set To Close Books On Loan

We have received news of the following recent management changes:

• The Clearing House Payments Company today announced that Senior Vice President Susan Long will manage both paper check and electronic check clearing services on Oct. 1 and that Senior Vice President Jerry Milano, head of SVPCO Check Services, will retire on March 31, 2008. Long, who joined The Clearing House 14 years ago, had been running SVPCO’s electronic check services.

Following the closing of the KKR acquisition yesterday, First Data Corp. has updated some of the information on its web site. Included in the bio for newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer Tom Bell is a description of his responsibilities for FDC's "Centers of Excellence" - described as 1) mobile payments, 2) loyalty, 3) data analytics and 4) fraud and security.

Cherie Berkley writes for Bankrate.com about "the greening of credit cards".

Discover Financial Services has announced its financial results for its third quarter ending August 31 - reporting a four percent growth in both credit card sales volume and managed loans.

MasterCard has announced the launch of MasterCard Easy Savings, a new savings program for MasterCard BusinessCard credit and signature debit cardholders offering them "easy, automatic savings on goods and services every time they use their MasterCard BusinessCard credit and signature debit cards for qualified purchases at participating U.S. merchants."   » Continue Reading

David Milstead reports for Denver's Rocky Mountain News that four top executives of First Data are departing following the KKR acquisition that closed yesterday. In addition to CEO Ric Duques, those departing include Senior Executive Vice President David Bailis, the head of financial institution services, Senior Executive Vice President Pamela Patsley, president of First Data International, and Executive Vice President David Treinen, the president of First Data Government Solutions.

Volantis, a supplier of "Intelligent Content Adaptation" solutions for mobile services, has announced that "GarantiBank has made its device-independent mobile banking portal available to over 6 million customers using Volantis Framework."   » Continue Reading

• Chase Paymentech Brings Together Ecommerce Leaders to Map Out the Future of Payments
• Coinstar Celebrates 10th Anniversary as Public Company
• Mocapay Adds Quest as Newest Point-of-Sale Partner
• Positive Networks Extends PhoneFactorTM Authentication to Global Market
• New Ping Identity Initiative Brings Secure Internet Single Sign-On to Software-as-a-Service Providers
• New anti-fraud card technology coming to Canada
• AceBucks: Facebook's PayPal Or Its Flooz?

Online Resources Corporation has announced the launch of a new version of its online collections solution designed for small to mid-sized lenders, billers and receivables management companies.   » Continue Reading

First Data Corporation has announced the completion of its acquisition by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR).   » Continue Reading

Glenbrook's Linda Elliott is attending this week's Digital Identity World conference in San Francisco. She's filed her first report from this morning's discussions and observations in her post titled "Doc Searls Provides a new ‘Clue’ for the Identity World"

Phil Hochmuth writes for Network World about PayPal CTO Scott Thompson and his experience leaving the big IBM and Sun iron at Visa and moving to PayPal a couple of years ago where he found thousands of Linux-based, single-rack-unit servers. Thompson now says that there's no other way to do it given "the economic, operational and development advantages of open source and Linux technology."

Some additional press coverage this morning regarding Steve Case's new Revolution Money (formerly known as GratisCard):

• USA Today: Account number, name not on this credit card
• Washington Post blog: Steve Case Launches Revolution Money

ISTS Worldwide has announced that it has developed a comprehensive platform for mobile payment application development. According to the company, "the platform is capable of supporting virtually any kind of mobile payments application, practically independent of mobile service provider and supporting most of the mobile devices in the market. It puts together the infrastructure needed to rapidly develop mobile payment applications."   » Continue Reading

In an article titled 'Guide to passing PCI's five toughest requirements" on SearchSecurity, Craig Norris writes about some survey results from VeriSign that identify the toughest requirements of the PCI-DSS standard for organizations to comply with.   » Continue Reading

Naureen Malik writes for the Wall St. Journal about how TicketNetwork migrated away from billing its customers via credit card to using the ACH instead - saving money in the process and reducing customer service hassles and costs associated with dealing with expiring card account numbers, etc. The company still accepts credit cards for dealing with individuals.

VeriSign has announced that it will "integrate ClairMail's secure 2-way mobile customer interaction platform and applications with the VeriSign Mobile Banking Solution" as part of a global technology solution alliance between the two companies.   » Continue Reading

Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC and Discover Financial Services have announced "an agreement to offer full-service processing for all Discover transactions through Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC. Under the agreement, Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC customers will now enjoy seamless card payment processing for a broader range of payment options at the point of sale."   » Continue Reading

In a new report titled "Billion Dollar Deal", the Center for Responsible Lending says that "millions of college students and other young adults aged 18 to 24 have become unwitting participants in overdraft loans that cost them nearly $1 billion a year in fees."   » Continue Reading

First Data Corporation has announced that it expects to close its acquisition by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) later today. First Data said will announce the completion of the acquisition once the transaction has closed.

Formerly GratisCard, Revolution Money, a new subsidiary of Steve Case's Revolution LLC, has announced "an innovative new payment platform created to transform the payment industry by drastically altering the economics through Internet-based technology, generating significant consumer and merchant benefits." The company announced the launch of "Revolution MoneyExchange, the first free money transfer service that powers online transactions, and RevolutionCard, the industry's first anonymous, PIN-protected credit card." The company also announced that it is "backed by Citi, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank."   » Continue Reading

Dynamic Card Solutions has announced that its CardWizard software now enables financial institutions and their retail partners to issue Visa and MasterCard co-branded credit cards instantly at select retail locations.   » Continue Reading

• TowerGroup: Subprime Lending Meltdown Fuels Risk and Opportunity for Creditors
• TheStreet.com: Three Banks Pursuing Target Credit Cards
• eWeek: What Was Behind the TJX Settlement?
• Scammer Claims To Be 'Verified By Visa'
• BioPassword Introduces First Authentication Software Platform That Combines Three Keys of Identification for Secure Access
• Capital One Canada Launches New No Hassle Rewards Card With No Annual Fee
• Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS and American Express Announce Card Issuing Alliance
• Brokerage Firms Differ Widely in Offering ACH Transfer Capabilities, Says New Report from Corporate Insight
• Digital Defense Announces Partnership with Harland Financial Solutions
• FSTC Launches Next Phase of Resiliency Model Project in Collaboration With Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute CERT(R) Program
• Inaugural PCI Security Standards Council Community Meeting Confronts Latest Security Threats Facing the Payment Card Industry
• Ping Identity and Wave Systems Collaborate to Provide Strong Authentication for Federated Single Sign-On
• Prepaid Visa RushCard User Wins Visa National Tax Time Promotion

We met recently with Jorge Fernandes, co-founder, president and CEO of MobiBucks, a Santa Clara, California-based mobile payments startup. Jorge earlier was the founding CEO of ViVOtech, one of the leading companies in the contactless payments market. Since leaving ViVOtech about two years ago, he has been focused on enabling mobile payments - more specifically, enabling easy mobile payments. We first covered MobiBucks here on Payments News back in April.   » Continue Reading

Paul Wenske writes for the Kansas CIty Star about a Capital One customer's recent experience having the interest rate on her No Hassle Miles Card increased from 9.99% to 15.9%. Wenske concludes: "She plans to collect her awards and drop her Capital One card. Too much hassle."

Steve Adams writes for the Patriot Ledger about local merchant concerns about payment card acceptance fees. Adams quotes Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the Washington-based National Association of Convenience Stores, who says "If somebody puts a pack of gum on the counter and pays with a credit card, you’re better off if the person just stole it."

Robin Sidel writes for the Wall St. Journal about payment card data security - pointing out that "smaller shops have proven ill-prepared for the complexities of safeguarding credit-card information." Some small merchants say they're not aware of potential vulnerabilities - or the need to protect data. Sidel notes that Minnesota passed the Plastic Card Security Act earlier this year which took effect in August. California's AB779 has been passed by both houses of the state legislature and is awaiting signature by the governor.

Moneta has announced that it has acquired the Retail Payments (RPS) product formerly owned by CheckFree. "The RPS technology allows consumers to purchase goods and services by transferring money directly from their checking accounts to participating merchants. This simplified process eliminates a large portion of the fees merchants assume with traditional purchases made on credit cards and through other online payment providers. RPS has been a successful CheckFree service offering for more than two years."   » Continue Reading

TJX announced late yesterday that it "has entered into a Settlement Agreement with respect to the customer class actions in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico relating to customer claims arising from the criminal intrusion(s) into TJX's computer system."

Update: Evan Schuman looks at the details of the TJX settlement.

The Asian Banker profiles mobile banking activity in markets across Asia - noting that, in some developing markets, banking on the mobile phone may be the first online experience that bank customers experience.

Adam Levitin, associate professor of law at Georgetown University, has been writing this week on the Credit Slips blog. In a post titled "Who's Paying for your Reward Points?", Levitin describes what he calls "the largest component of the fee merchants pay" - that going to fund credit card rewards programs. He continues: "Although merchants finance the rewards programs, they derive little or no benefit from them. Rather than generating additional sales [for merchants], rewards programs merely induce consumers to shift transactions from less expensive payment systems to more expensive rewards credit cards."

John Boyle writes for the Asheville Citizen-Times about local merchant reaction to the fees charged to merchants for payment card acceptance. Boyle quotes a local gasoline retailer: “The thing that really concerns me — and you’ll hear this in Congress from time to time — is how people feel they’re being gouged on gasoline, yet the credit card companies are making the same cents per gallon I am."

• CardTrak.com: Nation's First Credit Card Site for Consumers Celebrates 21 Years
• New Appointments to Help Drive USA Technologies Expansion
• WSJ: ATMs Become Handy Tool For Laundering Dirty Cash
• First Data $5 Billion Loan Deal Seeing Strong Demand

At Glenbrook, we get asked a lot about our views about mobile banking and payments. In our opinion, mobile payment is a whole separate kettle of fish - and not something addressed here. But mobile banking is here and now as most major banks are making their decisions about how to offer mobile banking this year. We've just posted our thoughts re a "thumbnail mobile banking strategy" - we welcome your comments.

Update: Glenbrook's Russ Jones turns the thumbnail mobile strategy into a 10-step cookbook.

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "The Global and US POS Market: Forecasts and Futures" that reviews global and regional POS terminal shipments and approximate revenues and looks at the future role of POS terminals in the payment ecosystem.   » Continue Reading

First Data International has announced it is providing card processing services for the new VIsa prepaid card introduced by Dresdner Bank, part of the Allianz Group. According to First Data, "the Dresdner Prepaid Card combines the principle of prepayment made familiar in the mobile phone market with the payment functionality of a credit card. The card is not linked to a credit facility, and the customer defines the level of credit available on the card by making a deposit. To support the new card, First Data is providing processing and call centre services."   » Continue Reading

If you're going to Jim Bruene's Finovate 2007 conference being held on Tuesday, October 2, in New York City, please introduce yourself to Glenbrook's Bryan Derman who will also be attending the conference. Bryan is based in the New York City area and supports a number of Glenbrook clients up and down the east coast.

Finovate 2007 will be showcasing twenty innovative financial services companies including: Andera, Billeo Inc., CheckFree/Corillian, ClairMail, Firethorn, Digital Insight, Geezeo, Identity Theft 911, iPay Technologies, Jwaala, Lending Club, Metavante, mFoundry, Mint, Monitise, Mortgagebot, MShift, Online Resources, Prosper Marketplace, and Yodlee.

TrialPay has announced that it has achieved more than 2.6 million registered users, 1,000 merchants and over 2,000 advertisers using its platform and that its user base continues to grow with more than 10,000 individuals registering daily.   » Continue Reading

The U.S. government has digitally unveiled a new, more secure design for the $5 bill that will be issued and enter circulation in early 2008. A new $100 bill will follow. This is the first time in history that U.S. paper money has ever been unveiled entirely online.   » Continue Reading

Discover Financial Services and Chase Paymentech have announced "the integration of Discover Network card acceptance into Chase Paymentech's payments network for small- to mid-sized merchants. Chase Paymentech is the world's largest merchant acquirer, with a customer base of more than 600,000 merchants in almost 1 million locations."   » Continue Reading

Forrester's Catherine Graeber has published a report titled "Raining On The Mobile Banking Parade" in which she takes a skeptical view of mobile banking. Graeber says: "We hate to rain on this parade, but here's the reality: Today's consumers still aren't very interested in mobile banking. Before putting a mobile offering at the head of the development queue, eBusiness banking execs should sit patiently on the sidelines and wait to see if the early leaders succeed in growing adoption and delivering a solid ROI."

At Glenbrook, we're taking a somewhat different view. Seems to us that both SMS-based and, particularly, browser-based mobile banking are relatively quick, easy, and cheap for banks to implement, enabling early learning about the customer's mobile interests. We agree that a positive business case for bankers to spend any significant money on mobile banking remains elusive.

Brandon McGee comments on the Forrester report - interpreting more positively some of the data Forrester presents.

Visa has released an update regarding the adoption of its Visa payWave contactless-based payments around the world. Visa payWave allows cardholders to wave their card in front of contactless payment terminals without the need to physically swipe or insert the card into a point-of-sale device.   » Continue Reading

• Retailers Urge Quick Action on Internet Sales Tax Legislation
• Fortune's Geoff Colvin interviews American Express CEO Ken Chenault
• New Customer Technology at Sears Canada - Rapid MasterCard Approval
• Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. Announces Strategic Alliance With LifeLock
• Alliance Data's Epsilon International Signs Multi-Year Agreement With Tesco Stores Limited to Provide Email Marketing Services Throughout Europe
• San Jose Mercury News: VeriFone cash machine keep printing for Chicago investment firm…
• InfoWorld: Paypal claims gains against phishers
• Card Technology: Citi Exec Bullish On NFC, Lukewarm On Contactless Cards And Fobs

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."   » Continue Reading

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.   » Continue Reading

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."   » Continue Reading

• PayRentEasy.com Helps Property Owners With Fast, Easy Online Rent Collection
• 'Primary Service Data' Key to Bringing Benefits of Credit to Consumers Globally - Says TransUnion
• New U.S. $5 Bill Will Get a Digital Debut on September 20
• National Consumer Survey Points to Tough Holiday Sledding for Retailers, Says RBC Capital Markets
• Esprit Financial Group Inc. (Esprit) (EFGO.PK) Announces Check 21 Live Data Tests in China
• CNN Money: Breaking the bank: ATM fees
• Monster and Bank of America Help Parents Prepare for College Financial Planning
• Bottomline and Wipro Technologies Form Strategic Partnership to Deliver Best-of-Breed Corporate Payments and Global Cash Management Solutions

The Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board has published its Annual Report (PDF) covering its activities for 2006 and 2007. The report devotes a full chapter to the Card Payments Systems - noting that "much of the Board’s effort has been devoted to improving efficiency and competition in Australia’s retail payments system, particularly the card-based systems" and, especially, interchange fees.   » Continue Reading

Archstone Consulting has announced the results of its 2007 Holiday Gift Card Survey examining the shopping habits of more than 1,000 web users across various age groups, gender and region. Based on the survey results, Archstone projects gift card purchases reaching an all-time high at $35 Billion this holiday season, compared to last year’s actual spending figure of $27.8 Billion, a 25 percent increase year-over-year.   » Continue Reading

Diamond Management & Technology Consultants has announced a new white paper titled "Mobile Payments: Mobile Operator Market Opportunities and Business Models" that suggests that, "while the growing multi-functionality of mobile phones could present an opportunity to substitute the ubiquitous wallet with a digital alternative, wireless operators face real challenges in deciding how they will generate new revenue in a mobile payments ecosystem that could be dominated by financial services firms."   » Continue Reading

Calling itself "the freshest, most intelligent way for you to manage your money online.", Mint.com, a new web-based approach to personal financial management, has officially launched. Mint says it "automatically pulls together the user’s bank, credit union and credit card data, and provides up-to-date and amazingly accurate views of his or her !nancial life - from the big picture to speci!c details, in a friendly and intuitive user interface."

Moneta, a new online financial services company, has announced a new alternative to current forms of online payment that enables consumers to "make online payments directly from their checking or money market accounts using only a secure four-digit PIN." The company says that "merchants pay fees up to 50 percent below those charged by credit card companies and other online payment options." On its web site, Moneta lists Aloha Airlines, TigerDirect.com, Shoebuy.com, and AirTran Airways as participating merchants.   » Continue Reading

Wells Fargo has announced "the latest addition to its mobile banking services, Wells Fargo Mobile for small businesses, a browser-based solution that gives small business owners nationwide access to their business and personal financial information at anytime, from anywhere."   » Continue Reading