Glenbrook is looking for more information about providers who are providing tokenization and/or encryption products/services to merchants to help them reduce the scope of their PCI-DSS compliance obligations?

Last week, several companies responded to our Twitter tweets and LinkedIn status asking for more information - if you've already responded via email, there's no need to do so again!

But, If your company does provide tokenization/encryption services and hasn't already responded, then please do respond to this survey and tell us more about your offering. You can click "Read More" to answer our mini-survey or click here to open a fresh copy. READ MORE »

Maria Aspan reports for American Banker this afternoon that Citi Holdings has sold $1.3 billion of managed card portfolios to US Bank. She reports that the portfolios were associated with KeyCorp, Associated Banc-Corp, and the affinity card portfolio for the American Dental Association.

Earlier, Floyd Norris of the New York Times posted a commentary about Citi's earlier press release announcing the sale - calling it the "least informative announcement." He said that "I can’t remember a deal announcement when a company said it had sold undisclosed assets to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price, resulting in an undisclosed profit or loss."

The NFC Forum and the Mobey Forum have announced a Memorandum of Understanding to "work together to further ongoing efforts to create open standards that enable the delivery of services that provide secure and interoperable mobile financial transactions." READ MORE »

MasterCard has announced that Tim Hortons, one of North America's largest quick service restaurant chains, is now accepting MasterCard PayPass at more than 400 U.S. locations. Tim Hortons first began accepting MasterCard PayPass in many of its 3,000 stores in Canada in 2007. READ MORE »

• BusinessWeek: Diebold's Mobile Banking Plans for the U.S.
• Reuters: Visa to prepay $682 mln to settle $800 mln debt
• Celent Banking Blog: Businesses Require Better Protection Online
• Reuters: Here, There and Everywhere...More Banks Promote Mobile Banking
• Portals and Rails (FRB Atlanta): Will micropayments thrive in social networks?
• CBS News: A "PayPal Killer" On The Way?
• Inside Retailing: ARA concerned at RBA review of interchange regulation
• Reuters: Consumers Union Warns Students to Resist the Credit Card Trap on Campus
• Bank Systems & Technology: With Rising Popularity of ACH Comes Rising Risk
• LivingSocial Launches 'Deals' Social Coupons for New Yorkers to Save on Restaurants, Spas and Local Merchants
• Monday Note: The Facebook Micropayment System
• Giesecke & Devrient Appoints Scott Marquardt New President to Lead U.S. Operations
• CreditCards.com: 9 new places where you can stash your cash and flash your plastic
• CNN Money: Facebook Sets Sights On Online Payments Business
• Wall St. Journal: Raft of Deals for Failed Banks Puts U.S. on Hook for Billions
• New York Times: As Biggest Banks Repay Bailout Money, the U.S. Sees a Profit

In an article in tomorrow's Washington Post titled "Seniors Leaning on Credit", Nancy Trejos reports on the credit card debt burdens facing senior citizens - where balances have increased the fastest of any age group.

Trejos writes: "Complicating matters, many card companies have raised interest rates, fees and minimum payments recently in anticipation of a new law taking effect in February that will restrict such hikes. Older borrowers have been hit especially hard by such actions, consumer advocates said, because their incomes are fixed and their ability to get a job is limited."

• Bloomberg.com: VisaNet Says Brazil Antitrust Agency Suspends Exclusivity Ban
• Is Cell Phone Security A Virtual House Of Cards?
• The Globe and Mail: Are debit cards safe?
• Atlanta Business Chronicle: Startup (Moneta) raises $4M to take on credit cards, PayPal
• Washington Post: Hacker to Plead Guilty in Major Identity Theft Case (Albert Gonzalez)
• Should Facebook Build A PayPal-Killer?

In an article titled "Card Act's Collateral Damage: Networks", Maria Aspan writes for the Monday edition of the American Banker about Citi "slashing some travel insurance benefits on its high-end credit cards." According to Aspan, "Citi said last week that it is reducing the amount of "travel accident insurance" it offers on several elite cards, in some cases to a quarter of the former coverage levels, effective Oct. 1."

Earlier this week, Nokia announced its Nokia Money initiative. Here are a couple of interesting blog posts discussing its prospects:

• Nokia Money – An Uphill Battle by Mark Beccue, ABI Research.
• Finnish Line by Dave Birch, Consult Hyperion.

What do you think? Add your comments below!

Action to prevent criminals abusing new mobile phone technology, which allows them to be used like debit, credit and pre-pay cards, has been agreed by the UK government, mobile phone and card payments industries, Home Office Minister Alan Campbell announced today. READ MORE »

In an article titled "RBC to offer both Visa, MasterCard products", Scott DeVeau writes for the Financial Post that "Royal Bank of Canada announced its plans Wednesday to become the first major credit card issuer in the country to offer both Visa and MasterCard products."

In an article titled "Banks 'Too Big to Fail' Have Grown Even Bigger", David Cho writes for the Washington Post about how the banks in the US who regulators thought were "too big to fail" have, ironically, become even bigger as a byproduct of the economic crisis. ""The oligopoly has tightened," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com.

• Bank Systems & Technology: Citi Launches Multicurrency Virtual Card With MasterCard
• Bank Technology News: MasterCard Aims For Payments Innovation
• Fifth Third Bank Collaborates With Tavant Technologies to Launch a Consumer Lending Online Channel
• Finextra: UK government sets guidelines to combat contactless m-payments fraud
• Merchant Advisory on Approval of MasterCard Agreement to Prepay Future Payments at a Discount
• Celent Banking Blog: Chase-ing away customers
• USAA Shows How Americans Make Software With New iPhone App
• USATODAY.com: Debit or credit? Let how you spend decide

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has just posted two openings on PaymentsJobs.com:Sr. Payments Risk Analyst and Payments Risk Analyst.

Both of these positions support the work of the Atlanta Fed's Retail Payments Risk Forum - see the Portals and Rails Blog.

For more career openings for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. To quickly list your job openings, click here.

Voltage Security has just posted a new position on PaymentsJobs.com - Senior Business Development Executive, Payments based at Voltage's HQ in Palo Alto, California.

From Voltage's PaymentsJobs.com listing:

Voltage Security, Inc, a leading Security software company is looking for a senior business development executive with a passion for excellence and experience in strategy and constructing win/win deals in the Payments industry. Join a creative team in solving complex problems and providing solutions that the world's largest companies depend on to keep their sensitive information safe.

For more career openings for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. To quickly list your job openings, click here.

InComm has announced the launch of a new business to business (B2B) platform, Smart GiftCard Solutions focusing on the significant growth of prepaid products within the corporate incentive marketplace. READ MORE »

In an article titled "Defying Experts, Rogue Computer Code Still Lurks", John Markoff writes for the New York Times about the Conficker virus - first detected last November which now has some five million computers around the world under its control. "Wherever the authors are, the experts say, they are clearly professionals using the most advanced technology available."

• StorefrontBacktalk: J.C. Penney, Target Added To List Of Gonzalez Retail Victims
• Retailers plan Web coupon strategy for holiday
• Alert by Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center Warns of Rising Cyber Attacks Against Small Business
• AuctionBytes: eBay's PayPal Faces Increasing Competition in Payments Space
• Get Rich Slowly: How to Choose the Right Bank Account
• TechCrunch: Nokia Eyes Emerging Markets With Obopay-Powered Payment Platform
• Schneier on Security: Stealing 130 Million Credit Card Numbers
• CreditCards.com: Credit card reform law quirk: 45 days' notice becomes 14
• Mobile Banking: Mobile Banking: Pete Daffern of Clairmail
• The Financial Services Club's Blog: First O2-RBS Visa Cards, now Nokia Obopay Money
• New Internet Threats Target Millions Engaged in Banking Online

India's Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of its m-Commerce service - 'mChek on Airtel´ on the voice platform. The new service provides secure use of voice (IVR) for m-Commerce transactions for all Airtel mobile customers. The mChek on Airtel service on voice will enable the 100-million-plus Airtel customers to pay Airtel mobile and fixed-line bills, recharge Airtel pre-paid and digitalTV accounts, recharge Delhi-Gurgaon expressway toll tags, pay insurance premiums, buy gifts, tickets and shop using their mobile phones. READ MORE »

Nokia has introduced Nokia Money - a new mobile service operated in conjunction with Obopay - calling it "a new mobile financial service offering consumers with mobile device access to basic financial services. For many consumers, this will be the first time they have had any access to such financial services."

According to the company, "Nokia Money has been designed to be as simple and convenient as making a voice call or sending an SMS. It will enable consumers to send money to another person just by using the person's mobile phone number, as well as to pay merchants for goods and services, pay their utility bills, or recharge their prepaid SIM cards (SIM top-up). The services can be accessed 24 hours a day from anywhere, meaning savings in travel costs and time. Nokia is building a wide network of Nokia Money agents, where consumers can deposit money in or withdraw cash from their accounts." READ MORE »

MasterCard has announced that it has approved personal card readers and authentication servers from four vendors for MasterCard Advanced Authentication for Chip - a new EMV authentication solution that leverages the hundreds of millions of EMV cards already in the wallets of cardholders. According to MasterCard, "banks looking to manage the growing threat of online fraud can today deploy this best-of-breed two-factor authentication solution by working with leading providers to the payments industry: DSSS, Gemalto, Logos and Thales." READ MORE »

In a media release today, the Reserve Bank of Australia's Payments System Board announced that at a recent meeting it had considered whether the conditions have been met for the removal of interchange regulation and "was not yet satisfied that such conditions have been met." The Board also said it had decided to defer consideration of any further reduction in interchange fees for the time being. READ MORE »

• Paymetric Experiences Record Quarter
• StorefrontBacktalk: Re-Thinking PCI Assessor Selection: Does Quality Matter?
• Visa Inc. Appoints Oliver Jenkyn as Global Head of Strategy and Corporate Development
• BAI Online - Banking Strategies: Rewards for Debit Cards
• VIPGift EARN 2.0 Retains Employees and Increases Productivity
• Seattle Times: Using cash instead of a credit card cuts the bill down at some restaurants

New on PaymentsViews.com: Purchasing Facebook Credits with Zong Mobile Payments by Glenbrook's Erin McCune.

In an article titled "Final Semester for Credit Cards Aimed at Students?" in this morning's American Banker, Maria Aspan writes about the new rules affecting marketing of credit cards to anyone under 21 that take effect next February as part of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act. Between now and then, Aspan writes, "some industry members expect to see issuers conduct business as usual when marketing and issuing to students — if not accelerating their efforts."

MasterCard has announced that Texas-based quick service restaurant chain, Whataburger, will accept MasterCard(R) PayPass contactless payments at more than 500 locations across southern United States. Customers will be able to use their MasterCard PayPass card or device to simply Tap & Go to pay for menu items at the counter and at the drive-thru, enabling them to make purchases quickly and conveniently. READ MORE »

Fiserv has announced that "Walmart has implemented the CheckFreePay service from Fiserv, enabling customers to pay bills in person at all Walmart locations in the United States. Using the CheckFreePay service, customers can pay household bills, such as their utility, mobile phone, auto loan, insurance and credit card bills, at any one of the retailer?s 3,755 domestic locations, including Walmart SuperCenters and Neighborhood Markets." READ MORE »

• New Intuit Payment Service Could Vie for Consumer Transactions
• NFCNews: GuestLogix release contactless payment terminals for in-flight purchases
• The PayPal Blog: PayPal Platform Team Welcomes Naveed Anwar
• IRS Awards Multi-Year E-Payment Contract to RBS WorldPay
• VeriFone Introduces PAYware CMS 8.0
• Digital Money Forum: Cross-bored - Dave Birch on the frustrations of card technology and card fraud
• Forbes.com: The Power Of Plastic
• Data hints consumers handling credit cards better
• Rethink Wireless: NTT DoCoMo hits 10m mobile wallet accounts
• WSJ.com: Monitise: FY09 Sales Up 80%; Sees Sales Doubling In FY10
• NACS Online: Thieves Favor Debit Cards
• Huffington Post: Don McNay: Today Is the Day to Cut Up Your Credit Cards
• Taobao Sees Significant New Trends in Chinese Online Consumption
• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: New Research Provides Guidance on Social-Self Service and Multi-Channel Integration for FIs
• Washington Post: Security Fix - Businesses Reluctant to Report Online Banking Fraud

The Commerce Commission and MasterCard International have announced signing an agreement "settling the Commission’s claims that MasterCard’s credit card scheme rules providing for the payment of multilateral interchange fees, together with related rules, breached the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Commerce Act. The Commission and MasterCard have agreed to resolve the Commission’s claims on substantially the same basis as the Commission’s settlement with Visa, which was announced on 12 August 2009." READ MORE »

Discover has announced it has launched a new series of advertisements "that celebrates cardmembers and highlights what they “get back” from their Cashback Bonus – both literally and emotionally. The new ads are intended to portray the sense of optimism that many of our cardmembers seek, the everyday things that make them happy, as well as Discover’s cash rewards leadership." READ MORE »