On the web:

• Starbucks Launches ‘pay by app’ for iPhone Users in UK - Telegraph
• Spindle Plans Mobile Payment Product for Small Banks - American Banker
• Square Expands Retail Partnerships to Include OfficeMax And UPS Store Locations - TechCrunch
• PayAnywhere Lets You Build Payments Acceptance Into An App Of Your Own - Business Insider
• Is what you see what you get? Proposed Pricing Disclosures for Electronic Remittances - Portals and Rails
• State Bank of India Drops Plan for Merchant Acquiring JV with Visa, Elavon - The Times of India
• Top 7 Card Readers For Smartphones: Apple, Android, and Blackberry - Mobile POS News
• The Future of Self-Service Checkout - STORES.org
• The State of ACH Fraud - Bank Info Security

On the wires:

• New Mercator Report on India's Prepaid Card Market
• SunGard Closes Syntesys Acquisition to Offer Expanded SWIFT Connectivity and Services
• Chase Partners with Southwest Airlines to Enhance Ultimate Rewards Travel Options for Cardmembers
• U.S. Bank Implements Secure Vault Payments for Nebraska Online Child Support Payments

On the web:

• My Mobile Payments Receives RBI’s Approval to Issue Mobile Wallet in India - MoneyLife

On the wires:

• Apparel Retailer Aéropostale Selects CashStar to Deliver eGift Cards
• CHARGE Anywhere Releases Payment Application for Windows Mobile
• MoneyGram Growth Continues in India: State Bank of India Joins Agent Network

On the web:

• Your Next Credit Card Is Your Last - Fast Company
• Wal-Mart, McDonald's Execs Sour on New Debit Rules - chicagotribune.com
• Starbucks Finds Success in Mobile Payments - TMCnet.com
• International Fraud Awareness Week is Here - Portals and Rails
• PayMate To Launch NFC Based Mobile Payments Product in India - MediaNama

On the wires:

• USA Technologies Maintains Branded Credit and Debit Rate Structure for Small-Ticket Markets
• Digital River Offers Enterprise Software Publishers New Revenue Channel
• Euronet Expands its Polish Network with ATM Acquisition from Diebold’s cash4you Network
• Wright Express Announces International Capabilities for Single-Use Virtual Payments
• Cubic Integrates Video Interface in Next-Gen Ticketing Machines
• 3 Point Alliance chooses Transactis as EBPP Partner
• New Celent Report on State of Remote Deposit Capture

ElectraCard Services (ECS) has announced that it has signed Union Bank of India to use electraECOMM, its internet payment gateway.

ECS’s electraECOMM is a highly secure, online, real time payment processing solution, supporting all major credit and debit cards from global payment processing networks and multiple currencies. It provides transaction acquiring and processing interfaces to Web Merchants, Customers, EFT Switches & Acquirer Networks.

Along with electraECOMM, Union Bank of India has also implemented electraSECURE, a solution that will enable safe online transactions.

On the web:

• Zynga Explains Method For Recording Real Revenue From Virtual Goods - Wall Street Journal
• Speed Bumps on the Road to Virtual Cash - New York Times
• New Starbucks Mobile-Pay App Adds Facebook Link for Gifting - American Banker
• Handicapping the Mobile Payments Battle - Mobile Commerce Daily
• China Telecom Opens Mobile Payment Function For 3G Users In Beijing - ChinaTechNews.com
• Alipay Invades China's High Streets, with Mobile Barcode Payments - Penn Olson
• PayMate launches 'WayPay', 1st Mobile Cashless Management Service - MSN India
• VeriFone to Unveil Tablet Credit-Card Reader This Year to Take On Square - Bloomberg
• Users Can Now Buy Facebook Credits in 32 New Currencies, Including Chinese Yuan - Inside Facebook

On the wires:

• 99Bill Enters into Strategic Agreements with Eight Major Banks in China
• Plimus Debuts Online GoGuides to Accelerate Seller and Affiliate Sales Success
• TCF Requests Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Durbin Amendment
• Regions Bank Completes Purchase of $1 Billion Credit Card Portfolio
• Western Union Expands Cash Payment Option to More Than 60 Countries for AdSense Publishers

On the wires:

• Heartland Payment Systems Introduces the Next Generation of Its WaveRider Laundry System
• JCM Global and Techfirm Sign MOU to Bring Pay-by-Mobile Phone Technology to Bill Validators
• Mitek Systems Granted Four More Patents for Mobile Deposit
• EFT Source Introduces New Option for Instant Card Issuance
• NCR Healthcare Selects EPX As Its Preferred Payment Provider

On the web:

• Portals and Rails: Who Does What Fighting Payments Crimes? Agencies Acronyms and Roles
• American Banker: Google Wallet to Require Investments in Terminals
• Digital Transactions: Forget PayPal And Google; Acquirers Most Worried About Visa, MasterCard
• Credit Slips: Dodd-Frank Gotterdämerung: The Durbin Amendment Rollback
• Digital Money: Jamie Henry, Walmart (Podcast Interview)
• India InfoLine: PayMate powers Inter Bank Mobile Payment Services in India

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

On the wires:

• Survey: Card Fraud Experts Warn Against Looming Mobile Payment Fraud Risk
• SecurityMetrics Introduces Network Threat Sensor to Simplify PCI-DSS Compliance
• TSYS Signs Merchant Services Agreement With Caledon Card Services
• NXGEN International Partners with Elavon to Expand European Footprint
• PayCommerce Offers Cloud-Based SMB Payment Suite Reseller Subscription Plan
• Elastic Path Launches Ecommerce on the Google Cloud
• Carta Worldwide Integrates MasterCard Mobile Over-the-Air Provisioning Service (MOTAPS)
• OpenCuro To Demonstrate New Online Payment System at FinovateSpring 2011

On the web:

• NPR: Banks, Retailers In Lobbying Race Over Debit Fees
• TechCrunch: Sequent Software Raises Funding, Aims To Simplify NFC Mobile Payments
• American Banker: ProPay s Zumogo Mobile Payment App Gets Social
• FierceFinance: Bank of America Ponders New Ways to Charge Overdraft Fees (via SMS Opt-In)
• CNET: Intuit Eyes NFC for Mobile Payment System
• GoMo News: India's Interbank Mobile Payment Service Finally Includes Merchants

On the wires:

• TSYS Expands Merchant Acquiring Presence With Acquisition of TermNet
• FIS Begins Processing New ELO Cards in Brazil
• Bill.com Rolls Out Official Integration with Sage Peachtree Software

On the web:

• FierceMobileContent: PayPal expects to process $2 billion in mobile payments in 2011
• TechCrunch: Jack Dorsey Shares Some Square Numbers
• Mashable: ING Direct Customers Can Now Pay Friends By Bumping Smartphones
• Wall Street Journal (SmartMoney):New Rules of the Credit Card Game
• Collections & Credit Risk: Discover To Pay Cardholders Referral Fee In Social-Media Push
• CRIENGLISH.com: Australian Payment Processor Will Start Accepting Unionpay Cards
• Times of India: Mobile payment system to gain steam in coming months
• Mobile Way to Pay: Will Retailers Use Tender Steering To Take Control Of Interchange?
• Portals and Rails: The Check's in the Mail, but it might be Fraudulent
• TechCrunch: Online Point Of Sale (POS) Systems Are The New Vogue

On the wires:

• Fiserv Launches Enhanced Relationship Rewards for Premier, Now with Loyalty Points
• IronKey Research Finds UK Organisations Fearful of Organised Cyber Crime

On the web:

• Business Standard: RuPay Network Likely to be Rolled Out in 18 months in India
• NetBanker Blog: 30 Most Popular iPad Apps from U.S. Banks and Other Financial Services Companies
• Skatter Tech: Apple Stores Now Stocking Square Card Readers
• Freshbooks Blog: PayPal Business Payments – $0.50 Flat Fee Online Payments
• Digital Money: Contactless in Chaos

On the wires:

• American Express Takes Aim at Identity Thieves with ID Protect Premium
• Hypercom Brings EMV Card Payment to Dubai’s Metro
• Visa Europe’s €100m Investment in Convergence

On the web:

• MSNBC: Study: Banks Hiding Fee Info, Skirting Law
• Digital Transactions: Secure Vault Payments Will Go Mobile Later This Year with Bar Codes
• Business Standard: IndusInd to Buy Deutsche Bank's Credit Card Biz in India
• BayPay Event: Mobile Payment Beyond NFC

The Mobile Money Exchange has a great visual tool that nicely illustrates the proliferation of mobile money deployments around the world.

This tool was originally developed by the GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked team (covering the countries under their remit) and has been extended to include all worldwide mobile money deployments.

On the wires:

• Vindicia and GlobalCollect Sign Partnership Agreement
• Network Merchants (NMI) Launches Mobile Processing Solution

On the web:

• InformationWeek: Microsoft Needs Mobile Money
• Business Standard: NPCI to Charge Banks for Mobile Transactions (India)
• TechCrunch: The Ever-Elusive Mobile Wallet: Why NFC Chips Are Overhyped And Will Underdeliver

Tanla Solutions has announced the launch of TPAYmobile - a cross platform, in-app mobile payment service for mobile applications and games.

Through a single integration with TPAYmobile, developers get access to billing on over 100 mobile networks as well as the ability to charge through Credit & Debit cards globally. TPAYmobile provides developers the ability to monetize through new and innovative business models like in-application billing, try & buy, time bound licensing and subscriptions with absolutely no starter or joining fee.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• PAY ON AG and allpago Join Forces in Latin America
• CardNET Brings VeriFone’s VeriShield Total Protect to Dominican Republic
• eBillme Partners with TheFind to Bring More Online Savings to Cash Spenders
• IPP of America Announces New Acquisition, Name Change, and Launch of PayXchange Retail Brand
• New Mercator Report on Indian Payments Market

• ABC News: PayPal to Restrict Payments to India Merchants
• NPR: In Haiti, Cell Phones Serve As Debit Cards
• ProgrammableWeb: Facebook Credits Comes Out of Beta, Unveils a Very Real API for Somewhat Less Real Money
• Portals and Rails: Payments Spotlight podcast: The evolving threat of corporate account takeovers as seen through a bank's lens
• Reuters: The Bancorp to be new issuing bank for NetSpend

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Banca Intesa Sanpaolo to Offer Western Union Money Transfer in Italy
• txtNation adds support for Mobile Payments in the Nordics
• CreditCall Introduces Contactless Kernel to Its EMV Product Range Supporting NFC and Wave and Pay
• New Mercator Report on US Mobile P2P Payment Market: Gee Whiz or Gee Why?

• DNA India: Ensuring Security of Payment Systems a Big Challenge
• Forbes: Unhappy With Slow Growth Of Android App Purchases, Google Talks 2011 Roadmap
• Wall Street Journal: House Panel Sets Hearing on Debit Card Fees
• NFCNews: Orange, Barclaycard to Launch Contactless Mobile Payment this Summer

MasterCard has released its latest "Insights" report on online shopping in emerging markets.

The results of the index show the gap in online shopping is closing in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region; last year we saw a huge spike with India and Thailand jumping in terms of their increasing ease of shopping online, bringing them close to numbers for some of the more mature markets like China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. While scores in India and Thailand have stabilized since last year, this year we see a jump in markets like China and Malaysia.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Wells Fargo Desktop Deposit Service Processes $1 Trillion
• MoneyGram Significantly Expands Presence in India with 4,200 New Agent Locations
• New Mercator Report on Smartphone Use of NFC Technology Beyond Payments
• Onebip Partners with Online Games Publisher OGPlanet

• Mashable: Why Your Smartphone Will Replace Your Wallet

MasterCard has announced "a payment solution for ‘Aadhaar’. ‘Aadhaar’ is a 12-digit Unique Identification Number (UID) that captures basic demographic and biometric information of Indian residents. The UID will make it possible for residents to establish their identity with financial institutions thereby providing them a gateway into the formal banking system. This payment solution will enable Aadhaar holders to perform payment transactions using UID numbers with biometric authentication.'

In related news, ElectraCard Services (ECS) also announced that they will be handling the end-to-end processing of of MasterCard solution.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Visa Develops Electronic Payment Solution in India Using UIDAI Platform
• Citi Launches Flu Care Card

• EE Times: PayPal Exec Charts Future of Mobile Money

A recent paper from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay explores why cash payments are so predominant in the Indian retail sector, in spite of the huge inroads made by payment cards in recent years.

The card payments data shows that even though we have 19 million credit cards, 190 million debit cards and half a million point-of-sale terminals, on an average there is just one transaction annually for every debit card and 11 transactions annually for every credit card.

MasterCard has announced that it now has a 12.5% stake in ElectraCard Services (ECS), a leading India-based provider of payments processing and and management solutions. ECS provides third-party processing services and software for credit, debit and prepaid cards and EFT switching solutions to banks in 25 countries in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

Visa and Monitise have announced the formation of a joint venture to provide a technology platform for financial institutions and mobile network operators in India to offer a range of mobile financial services to consumers. The companies said that "the new company will combine Visa’s expertise in enabling secure, globally interoperable financial transactions with Monitise’s know-how in developing mobile financial technology for a broad range of handsets." READ MORE »

India's Economic Times is reporting that the State Bank of India "has selected US-based Elavon Incorporation and Visa International as its joint venture partners for merchant acquiring business." See also this article in The Hindu Business Line. It reports that SBI will retain a 51 percent interest in the jV called SBI Payment Services Pvt Ltd.

On the GSMA's Mobile Money for the Unbanked blog, Valerie Rozycki, Head of Strategic Initiatives at India's mChek, writes about how, by focusing on catering and delivering mobile money services to women, telecom operators, banks and service providers can use mobile money as a way to shrink the gender gap for mobile services in general. READ MORE »

Venture Infotek has announced issuing a record 20 million debit cards for the State Bank of India. Venture Infotek says its Cards and Fulfillment division "has the biggest state-of-the-art secure card personalization bureau in India with a capacity to personalize 48 million cards per annum, out of which it is using a substantial portion of its capacity for State Bank of India." READ MORE »

Edgar, Dunn & Company has announced the release of "Citi Tap and Pay mobile NFC proximity payments pilot - Bengaluru, Results & Findings" by Samee Zafar and Pascal Burg. The white paper discusses the Citi Tap and Pay pilot service launched in Bengaluru, India in July 2009. According to the company, "with over 3000 customers, 250 merchant locations and nearly 50,000 purchases made, the recently concluded 26-week pilot is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive next-generation contactless credit card payments pilot ever undertaken based on Near Field Communications technology." READ MORE »

TechCrunch's Robin Wauters reports that PayPal "appears to be blocking personal transactions to or from accounts of India-based users. It is reversing personal transactions; transactions involving businesses are still allowed." A PayPal spokesperson confirms that "personal payments to and from India have been suspended while we address some questions from our business partners."

The Reserve Bank of India has published Payments Systems in India - Vision 2009-12, a report that outlines several major initiatives that the bank is undertaking with respect to the payment systems in India. Among them is India Card - a domestic card initiative.

Quoting from the report: "The concept of a domestic payment card (India Card) and a PoS switch network for issuance and acceptance of payment cards would be looked into. The need for such a system arises from two major considerations (a) the high cost borne by the Indian banks for affiliation with international card associations in the absence of a domestic price setter (b) the connection with international card associations resulting in the need for routing even domestic transactions, which account for more than 90% of the total, through a switch located outside the country."

ViVOtech has announced that its NFC mobile payment wallet, Over-the-Air (OTA) provisioning, smart posters, coupon delivery and redemption technologies have been successfully deployed in Citi Tap and Pay, a pilot service that brings to India next-generation contactless credit card payments based on this emerging technology. Launched in July in the city of Bengaluru in India, Citi Tap and Pay is one of the world's largest and most comprehensive NFC mobile payment pilots.a READ MORE »