Solidus Networks Inc., doing business as Pay By Touch, has announced a new Board of Directors: Art Petrie, Chairman; Eula Adams, John Morris, John Rogers, and Robert Sigler. According to the company, "the new Board is overseeing the structuring of a new executive team. Tom Lumsden serves as Chief Restructuring Officer, directing activities at Solidus Networks. Eula Adams continues as COO, Robert Sigler continues as CFO, and John Rogers, founder of the Company, now functions in a non-employee director role only."

First Hawaiian Bank has announced it has begun issuing MasterCard PayPass contactless debit cards provided by Giesecke & Devrient. "The Bank’s Priority Rewards MasterCard PayPass debit cards, powered by INSIDE Contactless’ MicroPass intelligent hardware technology, enhance the Bank’s traditional card offering and offer a secure and convenient payment method. G&D has delivered the contactless debit cards, as well as traditional magnetic stripe credit and debit cards, for First Hawaiian Bank card programs."

It's a New Year - and payments companies are hiring! If you're looking for a new opportunity, be sure to visit PaymentsJobs.com. There you'll find payments-related career opportunities for payments professionals - including just posted listings from Expedia, Visa Inc., Skylight Financial, Gilbarco, Danal, CPNI, and more. There's even a new listing for an East Coast-based senior associate for us, Glenbrook Partners. And, If you're looking to hire payments professionals, be sure to post your current job openings on PaymentsJobs.com.

Discover's latest US Spending Monitor paints a gloomy outlook for consumer fiannces going into 2008: "For the first time since June, less than a majority (49 percent) expected to have money left over after paying their monthly bills. Furthermore, December marked the fourth consecutive increase in the number of consumers expecting to have no money left over after paying monthly bills, topping out at more than 39 percent. Of those who had money left over, 27 percent had less left over than the previous month, a Monitor high, and a number that has also increased four months in a row." READ MORE »

Intuit has announced the availability of Quicken Online – calling it "a new Web-based service that makes it easy for people to instantly see how much money they have coming in, how much they are spending, and what’s left at the end of the month." In terms of mobile banking features, Quicken Online includes an interface optimized for the Apple iPhone along with alerts sent via SMS, etc.

Monitise Americas has announced that its partner, the NYCE Payments Network, has signed agreements with ten new financial institutions to utilize mobile financial services powered by Monitise Americas. READ MORE »

In a press release this morning, Chase discusses its new marketing campaign - scheduled to debut this Sunday. According to the bank, the campaign "will shine a laser-like focus on What Matters to customers, alerting them to the ways Chase can help them manage their money and their lives."

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