Glenbrook's Payments Boot Camp in Denver on December 3-4 almost sold out. If you're interested in joining this session, please be sure to enroll right away. Carol Coye Benson and Linda Elliott will be teaching the Denver session.

Glenbrook's next Payments Boot Camp will be held in Santa Clara, California on January 20-21, 2009. Enrollment for that session is now open. Carol Coye Benson and Scott Loftesness will be teaching the Santa Clara session.

TowerGroup has announced new research finding that total gift card sales for the 2008 holiday season will take nearly a 9 percent hit - owing largely to the downturn in the US economy. "That 9 percent decrease will be largely due to an expected 14 percent decline in the sales of merchant-sponsored (also “closed-loop” or private label) gift cards. Sales of bank sponsored (network-branded) gift cards are expected to increase 5.6 percent, a positive showing in the current climate." READ MORE »

Heartland Payment Systems has closed the acquisition of Chockstone, a privately held provider of gift card programs and loyalty solutions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. READ MORE »

Wells Fargo and Oracle have announced the release of the Wells Fargo Adapter -software that quickly integrates Wells Fargo treasury management services with the Oracle E-Business Suite financial applications. READ MORE »

Citi and Firethorn Holdings have introduced Citi Mobile for Cards - call it "an advanced mobile solution that allows Citi credit card customers to quickly, easily and securely access real-time credit card account information on their mobile phones. Citi Mobile for Cards is now available to AT&T subscribers as part of AT&T Mobile Banking, and to Verizon Wireless customers who download and use the free mobile banking application on Get It Now." READ MORE »

comScore has released its monthly retail e-commerce sales estimates reporting that online spending in October 2008 grew by only 1 percent over October 2007, the lowest monthly growth rate since comScore began tracking e-commerce in 2001. The overall softness in online retail spending was precipitated by curtailed spending across mid to lower income segments, with households earning less than $50,000 exhibiting negative spending growth compared to a year ago. READ MORE »

eCommLink and Monitise Americas have announced that they are working together to jointly offer mobile money applications to the prepaid debit card industry. READ MORE »

PayPal has announced that it has expanded its service with fully localized sites in Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore and an improved online experience for customers around the world. PayPal also launched nine new languages on its Web site including Bahasa Indonesian, Danish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese and Turkish. READ MORE »

NYCE has announced that it has signed a contract with Verient to conduct a pilot of NYCE’s SafeDebit, an e-commerce payment solution that will enable online shoppers to make purchases on the Internet without sharing their PIN or account information at the merchant’s Web site. NYCE plans to pilot SafeDebit beginning in early 2009. READ MORE »

Tara Perkins writes for the Globe and Mail about a decision by Canada's Competition Bureau allowing banks to issue both Visa and MasterCard cards in Canada.

• WSJ.com: PayPal to Offer Credit for Holiday Purchases
• Fiserv Delivers New Standard for Online Banking with Online Advantage
• Disney and JCB Launch Disney-JCB Card, Japan's First Disney-branded Credit Card
• Javelin Strategy and Research: Javelin Report Finds Financial Crisis Makes It Crucial for Banks to Target Online Channel
• PC World: GSM Group: Phones Need NFC for Mobile Payments
• TransUnion Expands Collection Vertical With Key Hires; Dedicated Focus on First-party Collections
• TechCrunch: OpenTable Reservations Come To The iPhone
• Best and Worst Online Payment Options in the UK
• Marketing Week: Visa Europe appoints former Levis marketing chief
• American Banker: Fidelity National in Pact with Obopay
• Bling Nation Launches Community Payment Network for Local, Regional Financial Institutions
• Intuit Helps Small Retailers Ring Up Success With New Solutions
• The MasterCard Foundation and BRAC Expand Microfinance Services in Uganda
• Travelocity Incentives Introduces the Travelocity Vacation Gift Card Heading into Holiday Season
• Yodlee® Announces Availability of Over 11,000 Financial Data Sources
• Dallas Morning News: Economic slowdown hits sales of gift cards
• Firethorn Teams Up With San Diego's Largest Locally Based Financial Institution
• KSLA News: Planning on buying gift cards for the holidays? Think twice, says BBB
• CSO Online: International Challenges in PCI Security
• Chicago Tribune: Gift cards tagged with doubt
• HP Simplifies Installation of Point-of-Sale Solutions for Smaller Retailers