Elavon and China UnionPay have announced they have "signed a binding agreement to enable acceptance for UnionPay’s debit and credit cards at Elavon’s merchants in the United States and Europe. The deal also extends credit card acceptance to Elavon’s Canadian merchants and will expand to include Latin America in the future."

T-Mobile USA has announced Direct Carrier Billing, "a nationwide purchasing program to provide customers the convenience of securely purchasing digital content and services from their web-enabled device. With Direct Carrier Billing, T-Mobile customers can conveniently charge online purchases of digital games, gaming and social networking credits, music, videos and other digital content offerings directly to their existing T-Mobile account right from the Web browser of their connected device – whether a PC, smartphone, netbook or tablet."

T-Mobile Direct Carrier Billing is initially available via BilltoMobile, Boku, OpenMarket, Payfone, and Zong.

NXP Semiconductors, AuthenTec, and DeviceFidelity have announced they are jointly developing reference designs that enable highly secure mobile payments via Android-based phones through the use of fingerprint biometrics and near field communication (NFC) technology. "Reference designs created by the companies are expected to help mobile phone OEMs and wireless carriers address the growing demand for NFC-capable smart phones."

Text2Pay has announced that Rogers, Bell, Fido and Telus Canadian customers can now use its mobile billing platform to pay for virtual goods and online content from participating merchants, safely and easily. "Customers’ mobile phone accounts are billed securely, using a two-factor PIN/ZIP code authentication for each transaction."

Consumer Reports is out with a new investigative report on the disparities in loss liability and consumer protections in various digital wallet and bill-to-mobile schemes.

A consumer's right to get their money back when something goes wrong—errors, goods not delivered as promised, fraud— varies by the payment option used. Again, the underlying method of payment tied to your mobile device will govern their rights in such instances. Cell phone and digital wallet payment services linked to a credit card offer consumers the most protection. However, there is a large disparity in protection for services that link to prepaid debit cards and direct billing to consumers' phone bill.

In Consumer Reports survey cited in the report, "one in four Americans said they had an unauthorized charge, billing error, non-credited payment, or other problem in the last year when paying for purchases or paying bills" with non-cash instruments.

On the web:

• Mobile Payments Are a Mess - Huffington Post

On the wires:

• New FICO Solution Helps Banks Grow Bankcard Portfolios in a Dynamic Environment
• SafetyPay Obtains European Payment Services Directive License
• InCOMM Launches Prepaid Cards Utilizing POSA Technology at Toys”R”Us Japan
• ACI Worldwide Boosts Fraud Prevention Services With ACI Financial Crime Consultancy
• CardFlex to Provide Merchant Processing Services to Tabulous Cloud Mobile Customers
• BBVA Compass Adds Person-to-Person (P2P) Payment Option With ZashPay