In a New York Times column titled "Up Next for Bankers: A Flogging", Andrew Ross Sorkin writes about the House Financial Services Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday with eight big US bank CEO's. Sorkin provides a list of tough questions he'd like to see the bankers answer - including one (#5) focused on the major credit card issuing banks (JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup) relating to what their expectations are with respect to credit card chargeoffs.

Credit losses on private label credit card portfolios in the US reached 10.51% in January according to a New York Times report by Tara Siegel Bernard. She writes: "While private label cards account for only about 11 percent of all credit card loans outstanding, their troubles offer a window into the deteriorating finances of some of the most distressed Americans."

J.P. Morgan's Treasury Services business has announced that it has gone live with the first phase of enhancements to its international mass payments operating platform. According to the company, "the enhancements will deliver immediate benefits to clients using the bank's Global ACH service, including later cut-off times for receipt of payment instructions and intelligent routing which automatically selects the most expeditious route if a cut-off is missed." READ MORE »

Noca, a Mountain View, California-based startup, has announced the launch of the beta version of its payment system - saying that it "virtually eliminates transaction fees for online merchants. At the heart of Noca's system is Secure Check™, a convenient, safe way for consumers to pay for content, digital media, physical goods and other purchases using their bank accounts directly from a merchant's site." READ MORE »

The 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report – released today by Javelin Strategy & Research – confirms that the number of identity fraud victims has increased 22 percent to 9.9 million adults in the United States, while the total annual fraud amount only increased slightly by seven percent to $48 billion over the past year. READ MORE »

MasterCard Worldwide and Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) have announced that MasterCard will become the Official Worldwide Partner and official payment system of Rugby World Cup 2011. The Rugby World Cup is the crown jewel of the sport and a prominent global property – with television coverage of Rugby World Cup 2007 spanning more than 200 territories, reaching a cumulative audience of 4.3 billion viewers. READ MORE »