The US Federal Reserve has reported its latest G.19 Consumer Credit statistics - finding that "consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 2.50% in the fourth quarter. Revolving credit declined at an annual rate of 2.75%, and nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 5.50%. In December, consumer credit increased 3.00% at an annual rate."

Mobile payments continue to dominate press coverage of payments industry news:

• Wall Street Journal: Mobile Wallets Poised for European Takeoff
• T3 Magazine: O2 to Launch NFC Mobile Payments App in UK
• thinq_: LG Outlines NFC Plans For Its Handsets
• TMCnet: YESpay Launches Global YESpay-Wallet Card Payment Program
• VentureBeat: Before You Can Pay With Phones, NFC Needs Better Security

And in related news, Barclays recently released the new lexicon of financial terminology. Their thesis is the informal nature of mobile devices is changing the way people talk about and refer to money.

TSYS announced that it has entered into a partnership with CASSIS International.

“Consumers will soon be using their phones as their wallets, so delivering secure mobile payments, loyalty, rewards and coupons will be a ‘must have’ for our bank and merchant customers,” said Troy Woods, president and chief operating officer, TSYS. “TSYS is committed to offering a full range of mobile solutions that meets our customers’ needs both today and tomorrow, and we are excited to partner with CASSIS, a global leader in technology and trusted service management for mobile NFC.”

CASSIS is a mobile trusted service manager (TSM) for banks, retailers, transit operators and mobile service providers, and is globally certified by Visa and MasterCard.

NYCE has announced that it will begin offering CashEdge Popmoney to its more than 3,000 financial institution clients. But instead of using ACH, the normal Popmoney funds transfer method, the NYCE Payments Network "will provide the ability to transmit the funds between the sender’s account and the receiver’s account in real-time, resulting in the immediate availability of funds."

Sage Payment Solutions has announced general availability for Sage Mobile Payments, a PCI compliant "mobile payments product that comes bundled with a Sage merchant account to allow SMBs to expand their payment options by accepting credit and debit cards on 400+ types of mobile phones and computing devices, across all major wireless carriers."

On the wires:

• Discover Announces Agreement with Banco Popular de Puerto Rico
• Liberty Bank Selects Premier from Fiserv
• Intuit GoPayment One of First Mobile Payment Apps Developed for Android 3.0
• INSIDE Secure Brings True NFC Hardware Independence to Google Android “Gingerbread”
• Cardlytics, NetSpend Partner to Bring Targeted Rewards Offers to Underbanked Consumers via Prepaid Debit Cards
• Plastyc Secures Strategic Investment from Core Innovation Capital
• This Is Money: Credit Card Rates Hit a 13-year High in UK/a>

On the web:

• BusinessWeek: In Broken Market, 'Swipe' Fees Must Be Regulated
• New York Times: Peer-to-Peer Lending: What the Future Holds
• Portals and Rails: Cash Acceptance: A Risky Proposition for Merchants
• BostInnovation: Clovr Media: Forever Changing How You Redeem Offers