Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami, pleaded guilty today to 19 counts of conspiracy, computer fraud, wire fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft relating to hacks into numerous major U.S. retailers including TJX Companies, BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority. Gonzalez was indicted in August 2008 in the District of Massachusetts on charges related to these hacks. More than 40 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen from major U.S. retailers as a result of the hacking activity.

Gonzalez also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud relating to hacks into the Dave & Buster's restaurant chain, which were the subject of a May 2008 indictment in the Eastern District of New York. The pleas in both cases were entered before U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris in federal court in Boston. READ MORE »

• Arcot Hosts the Authentication and Compliance Summit at Digital ID World
• CBS News: New Hurdle For Mobile Commerce: Success?
• 5 Ways Banks Are Using Social Media
• Guardian: PayPal baffled by mysterious Skype payments
• The Cheapskate Blog - TIME.com: Deep in Credit Card Debt? Ask and You Might Be Relieved
• CreditCards.com: How cell phone technology is helping combat credit card fraud
• Computerworld: Mobile banking report cards in, some failing
• Mobile Receipt from Mitek Systems Climbs to #1 in the App Store
• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: Consumer Prepaid Cards: Growing Beyond the Retail Core

Over on our sister blog PaymentsViews.com, Glenbrook's Erin McCune reports on a recent panel discussion on mobile payments in developing markets organized by Menekse Gencer of mPayConnect.

According to Erin, "The evening started with a primer on mobile financial services..." Click here to read on.

Finovate will return to New York City on Tuesday, September 29 to showcase the best new financial and banking technology innovations from established leading companies and hot young startups. Handpicked from hundreds, the companies get a mere 7 minutes on stage to demo (no powerpoint allowed) their latest and greatest.

Early bird registration closes Friday, Sept. 11th - so if you're interested in attending and saving some money in the process, be sure to register ASAP!

ABI Research has published a mobile banking “report card” which assesses 29 banks on the discoverability and accessibility of their mobile banking services.

Senior analyst Mark Beccue says, “People are asking ‘Is mobile banking taking off in the US?’ For that to happen, two things are required: the services must be easy to find, and accessible to a broad range of consumers . So the ‘grades’ in this report card are not about subscriber numbers or any other measure of success, but about how consumer-friendly the banks’ offerings are.” READ MORE »

PULSE, the Discover Financial Services business unit responsible for expanding global cash access for the company, has signed a long-term ATM acquiring agreement with TRIONIS, a European interbank processing network. TRIONIS is jointly owned by retail banks from nine European countries, the European Savings Banks Group, and First Data. READ MORE »

In a blog post titled "Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content", Miguel Helft writes for the New York Times that "Google is planning to roll out a system of micropayments within the next year and hopes that newspapers will use it as they look for new ways to charge users for their content."

• Prepaid cards are filled with pitfalls
• Seeking Alpha: Why Bank Overdraft Fees Merit Some Regulation
• San Francisco Chronicle: Dollars and Sense : Shop around for the best cheap checking accounts
• The NFC Report: Is China heading towards the adoption of NFC?
• Stop Clipping and Start Clicking! Top Grocery Stores Announce Online Coupons in the Northeast Region
• BankInnovation.net: Preventing Card-Skimming Identity Theft
• The Financial Services Club's Blog: The ATM is 40

In today's Apple announcement, Steve Jobs said that Apple's iTunes now had over 100,000,000 accounts - each including payment card credentials and enabled for one click purchasing.

International mobile banking solution provider, M-Com, announced today that it now has reached the milestone of 50 distinct one and two-way SMS (text messaging) alerts live in the market, the broadest range in the industry. M-Com has found that alert capabilities are increasingly in demand by consumers, as they provide relevant and timely information on account activity.  

“We are delighted to be leading the market when it comes to the breadth and range of one and two-way text message alerts being delivered to consumers by our financial institution customers,” comments M-Com CEO and Founder, Adam Clark.  “The research and M-Com’s proof points around the world demonstrate that the demand for such alerts is from both online consumers and those that have limited access to online banking channels.”

Ten industry leaders — Yahoo!, PayPal, Google, Equifax, AOL, VeriSign, Acxiom, Citi, Privo and Wave Systems — have announced "they will support the first pilot programs designed for the American public to engage in open government — government that is transparent, participatory, and collaborative. This open identity initiative is a key step in President Obama's memorandum to make it easy for individuals to register and participate in government websites — without having to create new usernames and passwords. Additionally, members of the public will be able to fully control how much or how little personal information they share with the government at all times."

These companies will act as digital identity providers using OpenID and Information Card technologies. The pilot programs are being conducted by the Center for Information Technology (CIT), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and related agencies. The participating companies are being certified under non-discriminatory open trust frameworks developed under collaboration between the OpenID Foundation (OIDF) and the Information Card Foundation (ICF) per the federal government Trust Framework Provider Adoption Process. READ MORE »

In an article titled "Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks" in today's New York Times, Ron Lieber and Andrew Martin write about the fees banks charge on debit card overdrafts - reporting that "this year alone, banks are expected to bring in $27 billion by covering overdrafts on checking accounts, typically on debit card purchases or checks that exceed a customer’s balance."

On the GSMA's Mobile Money for the Unbanked blog, Paul Leishman interviews Zahir Khoja, Executive Director - Mobile Money (M-PAISA) about the launch of mobile money in Afghanistan.

Non-cash payment volumes continued to grow in 2008 after an increase of 8.6 percent globally in 2007 to 250 billion transactions, according to the World Payments Report 2009, released today by Capgemini, RBS and Efma. The use of cards continues to be the single strongest driver for this growth with llobal card transactions (credit and debit) growing 14.5% in 2007 and 11.2% in 2008. READ MORE »

• Floyd Norris Blog - NYTimes.com: Consumers Won’t Borrow
• NYTimes.com: Asian Social Networking Sites Profit From Virtual Money
• Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money: Goodbye, checks. Hello, prepaid debit cards
• Performance Plus Tire Selects mPayy for Secure Online Payment Processing
• Convenience Store Decisions: Credit Card Coalition Bites Back At C-Stores
• Javelin Strategy & Research: Half of All iPhone Users Do Mobile Banking Today, Nearly Half of All Mobile Phone Users Will Do Mobile Banking in 2014
• New Survey Finds That 44% of Corporate Banking Clients Would Switch Banks for Better Service in Bank Account Management
• Mobile Banking Solutions Provider, M-Com, Announces Support for the Broadest Range of One and Two-Way SMS Alerts in the Industry
• MagTek names Tom Patterson chief security officer
• Wells Fargo ExpressSend Remittance Service Now Available Online
• JJ Buckley Offers PaySecure for Internet PIN Debit
• NYTimes.com: Dodd Seen Keeping Post at Senate Banking Panel
• NYTimes.com: Preventing Fees From Piling Up (Debit Cards)
• Supermarket Guru: What does bill paying really mean at Walmart?
• New Aite Group Report: The ROI of Small-Business Mobile

The Federal Reserve is out with its latest G.19 Consumer Credit report for July 2009. According to the Fed, US consumer credit decreased at an annual rate of 10-1/2 percent in July 2009. Revolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 8 percent, and nonrevolving credit decreased at an annual rate of 11-3/4 percent.

There's a relative dearth of interesting payments-related news today. Obviously, the post-Labor Day announcement strategy is a thing of the past in the current economy! If you've got any interesting news to share, please send it to gotnews@paymentsnews.com!

• BNET Financial Services Blog: Banks see Little Commercial Gain from Mobile Payments
• Wesabe Delivers Community Application for Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union Members
• Digital Transactions: Success of Check 21 Sends Substitute Checks in Free Fall, Data Show
• First Data Appoints W. Patrick Shannon as Chief Financial Officer
• Transaction Network Services Sets Its Sights on Canadian ATM Market - Yahoo! Finance