Global Payments and "la Caixa," the largest retail bank in Spain, have announced they are forming a merchant acquiring and payment processing joint venture in Spain.

"la Caixa", headquartered in Barcelona, was founded over a century ago, and is the market leader in Spanish merchant acquiring with over 150,000 merchant outlets. "la Caixa" also has the largest consumer banking footprint in Spain with more than 5,000 branches, 10.5 million customers and a 21 percent market share in merchant acquiring.

BillingScore, a London-based mobile payments risk management firm, has announced the launch of its new service that will protect and insure SMS aggregators and service providers against fraudulent Premium SMS activity and artificially inflated traffic.

China UnionPay and American Express have announced that they have "signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for both companies to explore the expansion of their current cooperative activities. For the past several years, China UnionPay and American Express have cooperated within China where American Express Cards run on the China UnionPay network. This new MOU will establish working teams to develop potential new areas of cooperation between the two companies within China and in markets outside of China."

Glenbrook's next Payments Essentials webinar is next Tuesday from 10:30 to 11:45 AM PST. The topic for this session is the PayPal X Platform - what it is and where it fits in PayPal's strategy. Glenbrook’s Russ Jones participated in PayPal X Innovate 2010 and will be discussing PayPal's progress with its developers platform since it was launched in 2009. Registration ($149) details are here.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Voila & Unibank Receive All Regulatory Approvals to Launch First Mobile Money Solution in Haiti
• Zuora Delivers Z-Payments 3.0 Subscription Billing Solution
• Sentenial and ING launch SEPA mandate management solution for corporates across Europe

• PayPal Blog: Payments – Coming to a TV Near You Soon?

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its initial analysis of cross-border monetary transfer data.

Monetary transfers, commonly called "remittances," refer to personal transfers of money to and from relatives or friends who are living abroad. This report presents initial results on the occurrence, frequency and amount of transfers sent and received. This supplement is noteworthy because it was the first time questions on monetary transfers were included in a federally sponsored, nationally representative survey.

USA ePay has announced they will join the Secure Vault Payments (SVP) network and offer the new online payment option to their more than 40,000 clients before the end of the year. “Gateways like USA ePay are a critical component to the growth of the Secure Vault Payments network,” said Richard Brierley-Jones, Executive Vice President of eWise.

VeriFone and Hypercom have announced a definitive agreement under which VeriFone will acquire Hypercom in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $485 million.

"Consistent with our vision as a global leader in secure electronic payment solutions, we have placed strategic focus on replicating our North American success in key markets in continental Europe," said VeriFone CEO Douglas G. Bergeron. "Hypercom has established itself in a number of important European markets, and this acquisition is an excellent and complementary way for us to accelerate our overseas growth, increase innovation and build value for our shareholders."

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• New Aite Group Report on US Mobile Payments Market
• Moneybookers Group Rebrands to Become 'Skrill'
• Major Retailers Add PhoneFactor to Protect Credit Card Data
• Elavon to Market VeriFone’s PAYware Mobile Solution for iPhone
• UMB Bank to use ACH Alert To Protect Business Accounts from ACH Fraud (PDF)
• New VRL Financial Report on Prepaid in Sub-Saharan Africa
• AllTrust Networks' Check Database Now Available via Web Browser
• Voltage Security and PwC Form Joint Business Relationship for Information Risk Management
• PayPal to Use Axiomatics’ Intelligent Access Management Solution

• MIT Technology Review: When Mobile Phone Payments Go Social

AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have announced the formation of a joint venture chartered with building ISIS, a national mobile commerce network that aims to fundamentally transform how people shop, pay and save.

Isis’ initial focus will be on building a mobile payment network that utilizes mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases. By utilizing smartphone and near-field communication (NFC) technology to modernize the payments process, Isis intends to deliver new levels of competition and value to consumers and merchants. Isis expects to introduce its service in key geographic markets during the next 18 months.

M-Dot Network has announced that Hiller's Markets has "successfully launched the first digital coupon platform that does not rely on any additional in-store infrastructure or hardware within the store headquarters." The new POS Digital Coupon technology from M-Dot provides retailers with an enterprise platform for managing the issuance, precision marketing and real-time redemption of digital coupons and offers.

U.S. Bank and Visa have announced they are partnering with DeviceFidelity, FIS and Monitise to introduce a mobile POS capability for Visa payWave contactless payment terminals.

Issued by U.S. Bank, a DeviceFidelity In2Pay™ microSD is inserted in the customer’s mobile phone or within a specially-designed iPhone case (In2Pay iCaisse™). Visa and DeviceFidelity recently introduced the patent-pending In2Pay microSD based mobile contactless technology and the associated In2Pay iCaisse solution. FIS and Monitise developed the application that enables customers to make mobile purchases and access account information as part of the U.S. Bank pilot.

PayNearMe has announced a mobile option for "consumers who prefer to pay cash for e-commerce purchases, loan re-payments, e-wallet loads and a wide variety of other everyday transactions." Using only their mobile phones and the new, free PayNearMe Card, consumers can complete transactions without requiring access to a printer. This video demonstrates the entire consumer experience.

In related news, PayNearMe also announced it has received another $16 million in venture funding and is expanding its board.

Visa Europe and Cornèr Bank in Switzerland have announced the commercial launch of Visa CodeSure. CodeSure-enhanced cards feature "an embedded PIN pad which allows consumers to generate a passcode by simply typing their PIN number into the card enabling security and convenience in the same device. The card makes Verified by Visa online transactions easier and more secure and can also be used in an ATM or point-of-sale device as usual."

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Zong Brings Direct Mobile Payments to the Philippines
• Ixaris Launches Secret Path Developer Challenge
• New Study Tracks Consumer Attitude Toward Online Shopping and Internet Security This Holiday Season
• New In-Stat Report on Virtual Goods in Social Networking and Online Gaming
• Verifi and Lime Light CRM Partner to Deliver Integrated Risk Management Solution for Direct Response Merchants
• Authentify and DocuSign Deliver More Than 35,000 Securely Signed Documents in First 90 Days of e-signature collaboration
• ThreatMetrix Announces Cookieless Device Identification to Prevent Online Fraud While Protecting Customer Privacy
• American Express Launches Premium Return Protection
• Blackboard Partners with PE Systems to Cut Credit Card Processing Costs for Colleges and Universities
• Virtual Red Kettles and Plastic Cash

• NFC World: Bling Nation to Launch National US Mobile Payments Service in Early 2011
• The Catalyst Code: Insights on Payment Innovation from Harvard Business School’s 16th Annual Cyberposium
• China Payments News: China Telecom, Bank of China, and UnionPay Launch New Mobile Payment Service

According to an update in the Wall Street Journal online, "Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. and T-Mobile USA will formally announce their joint venture to create a mobile payment network, which will be financially backed by Barclays PLC (BCS) and Discover Financial Services (DFS), as soon as Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation. The joint venture will be lead by Michael Abbott, formerly chief marketing officer at General Electric Co.'s (GE) GE Capital division. Discover and Barclays will also officially announce that they are participating in the venture. A formal announcement can come any time between Tuesday and Thursday."

First Data has released its First Data SpendTrend analysis for closed loop prepaid cards for the full month of October 2010 compared to October 2009.

Year-over-year October dollar volume growth of activations was 2.7%, down from 8.9% year-over-year growth in September. Activation transaction growth was 11.7% in October, a slight increase from September’s growth of 10.7%. As the holiday season started early, there was an increase in the number of consumers purchasing gift cards in October.

Gemalto has announced a new credit card technology that allows banks to provide a single card that delivers both payment and increased security for online transactions.

The card’s online secure password feature is activated by pressing a button on the face of the card. A one-time code is digitally generated and displayed. The card becomes a second factor of authentication, allowing the user to enter this unique and non-reusable numeric code on a Web page, in addition to their user name and password.

Google is now testing a new service that lets consumers in the U.S. compare credit card offers by APR, rewards, brands, type, etc. In addition to sorting and filtering by criteria, Google also lets consumers compare offers. NetBanker has a nice post and some screen shots.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• New Mercator Report on Co-Branded Consumer Credit Cards
• Credit Unions Continue to Move Item Processing In-House
• Bling Nation Taps Merchant360 to Support Rapid Growth
• SmsCoin Now Connects 87 Countries

• Business Insider: Eric Schmidt (Google CEO) Shows Off New 'Nexus S' Payment System
• Wall Street Journal: The New Bank Fees — Lenders' Latest Tricks
• Mobile Marketing: CreditCall Launches Smartphone Chip & PIN Payments Trial in UK
• iStockAnalyst: China to Stop Issuing Magnetic Stripe Cards After 2015
• The Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Layaway Back In Style
• MIT Technology Review: Connecting Credit Cards with the Social Web
• Portals and Rails: Retail Payments Risk Forum publishes white paper on mobile payments
• Treasury & Risk: ACH Settlement Accelerates
• AZcentral.com: Denver Card-Processing Firm Wins Battle for Phone Number