On the wires:

• Bangkok Airways Chooses Accertify to Provide Online Fraud Prevention
• MoneyGram International Adds Friendly Check and RiteCheck to Global Network
• TGate Announces Mobile Payment Best Practice Solution

On the web:

• Bank Technology News: Real U.S. Action on EMV
• Roll Call Lobbying: Swipe Fees Battle May Move to States
• Hindu Business Line: Soon, Merchant Transactions Too Can Be Paid Via Mobile
• AuctionBytes: Google Removes Checkout Badges from AdWord Ads
• Seeking Alpha: Elephant Talk and Mobile Wallets - The Next Trillion Dollar Revolution
• Business Standard: IndusInd Bank Pact with ECS for Credit Card Program in India
• CRIenglish.com: China UnionPay Cards to Be Accepted in Brazil
• Retail Week: Taking Payment Overseas
• NFC Times: With Launch of Google Wallet, the Wallet War Begins

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has announced it is "the first bank to make chip-enabled, or Smart, credit cards available to businesses in the U.S. Beginning today, SVB clients can apply for the new chip and signature World Elite MasterCard for Business with EMV chip technology."

Bottomline Technologies has announced that "Paymode-X, its business-to-business payments and invoicing network, has added its 140,000th supplier. The network size helps Paymode-X customers realize immediate benefits with the majority of their strategic suppliers typically already enrolled and able to invoice and receive payments electronically through Bottomline’s order-to-pay solution."

Western Union has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Finint S.r.l., "one of its leading money transfer network agents in Europe. Finint manages more than 10,000 subagent locations across Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom."

On the wires:

• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Mobibucks Launch Mobile Payment Service in UAE
• SecuTrans Selects Hypercom’s Optimum Systems for EMV Support in Canada
• Turkcell and Garanti Bank Team Up on Mobile-Based Cep-T ParaCard in Turkey
• Point Acquires Paybox Services in France (PDF)

On the web:

• Mobile Commerce Daily: Barclays Sets Eyes on U.S. Mobile Payments Market
• Fast Company: Another Thing NFC Could Change Forever: Product Warranties

Digital River has announced that PayPal is leveraging its Digital River World Payments solution to support local online payment processing in Brazil and Mexico. "This geographic expansion adds to the companies’ existing relationship, which now includes payment services across multiple continents."

Over on our sister blog, Payments Views, Glenbrook's Carol Coye Benson interviews Mike Kennedy, chairman of the clearXchange board, and shares her thoughts on the new banking industry joint venture in a post entitled "It's About Time: clearXchange and Bank P2P".

This has been a big week for news in the payments industry – with the Google Wallet making a big, loud splash. It’s nice to see banks using the power of their collaborative action to demonstrate that innovation can come from the bank side of the payments world as well.

Last week's Google Wallet announcement is generating a lot of commentary, reaction, and analysis on the Web:

• MIT Technology Review: Google Wallet: Who'll Buy In?
• Monday Note: Google Wallet: Big Deal or another Buzz?
• Mobile Commerce Daily: Macy’s Steps Up Mcommerce Game via Google Wallet Partnership
• Search Engine Land: With Google Wallet Mobile Payments Era Is Finally Here
• eWeek.com: Google Wallet Won`t Succeed: 10 Reasons Why
• PCMag.com: What Does Google Wallet Need to Succeed? A Habit
• McAfee Blog: Looking Into Google Wallet’s Security Setup

MoreMagic Solutions has announced the launch of its eTopUpOnline application for smartphones. "The application is now available across all major global mobile platforms, including Blackberry, Android, iPhone and Symbian."

On the wires:

• New Aite Group Report on Global Anti-Money Laundering Vendors
• SelectCore Extends Prepaid Reload Platform in Canada
• Think Launches On-Line Ordering, More New Features with FaceCash
• Revel Systems Raises $3.7 Million Series A for iPad-based IPOS System

On the web:

• NetBanker: BillGuard's "Anti-virus for Credit Cards"
• American Banker: Starbucks Mobile Pay App for Android a Hit (Unofficially)
• BusinessWeekMake Business Credit Cards Fair, Too
• PCWorld: NFC Smartphone Payments Taking Off? Not So Fast
• Xinhuanet.com: China Issues Third-party Payment Licenses to Regulate, Spur Online Business
• Monetising Mobile: Speaker Presentations - Visa, BOKU, Nokia
• The Washington Post: Credit Unions Increasingly Offer High-Rate Payday Loans
• TechCrunch: Minno Rebrands As BuySimple, and Raises Money to Go After Micropayments

Just for fun:

• My Modern Metropolis: Pop Culture Cash