On the web:

• How Payment Professionals Should Think About Facebook Credits - Dave Birch Blog
• Bank of America to Add Debit Card Fees - Michael Finney's Consumer Blog
• Amazon to Collect California Sales Tax by January 2013 - WSJ.com
• How New Payment Options (Lay-a-Ways) Can Drive Revenue - Harvard Business Review Blog
• Ryanair 'Cash Passport' Prepaid Card to Carry Hefty Charges - This is Money
• Tabbedout Expands Nationally to More Bars and Restaurants - Austin Business Journal

On the wires:

• Visa Europe Says Foreign Consumer Spending Tops €14.4bn
• CRE Secure Launches New Shopping Cart Platform – Loaded Commerce 6.5
• epay Signs Long-Term Prepaid Processing Agreement for Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA and Assurance Wireless
• An international bank selects Earthport to enhance pension payment services
• eLayaway's Technology Aims to Help the Economy
• Xpress Money Launches their Instant Money Transfer Service in Canada

Earthport has announced the results of a new report that provides a detailed understanding of the ideal cross-border payment solution from the perspective of both payment professionals and payment initiators. The global survey, which is based upon responses from professionals across the financial ecosystem, was conducted by payments strategy consulting firm Glenbrook Partners.

The full report can be downloaded here. READ MORE »

Earthport recently announced the online availability of its payments services through epDirect. epDirect provides a browser-based interface for enabling payments to be made cross-border to more than 200 countries in the world for a flat per-transaction fee. These transactions are facilitated through Earthport’s epClearing infrastructure.

Earthport, a global payments utility, has announced the launch of a global payments service for IBM’s Global Expense Reporting Solution (GERS) offering. The new global payments service, utilizing Earthport’s technology and Universal Payments Network, will extend the existing IBM GERS solution to include the final settlement of employees individual expense reports. It will be marketed to new and existing IBM GERS clients. READ MORE »