On Twitter:

Each minute, 5 new businesses sign up to use #PayPal, says @davidmarcus. #SMB #paypalit

— PayPal (@PayPal) May 21, 2013

On the web:

• PayPal to increase marketing this year for offline push - Reuters (Alistair Barr) - "We want to make sure we have enough density of consumer experiences before we do a lot of marketing. "We have really only one chance at this and we do not want to disappoint customers."
• FTC targets cash-reload code scams - CreditCards.com - "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission Tuesday announced new restrictions on "novel payment methods" that phone and Internet scammers favor…"
• Kopo Kopo: Six Revolutionary Digits -Huffington Post - "Kopo Kopo is a world-class platform which enables small and medium businesses to accept mobile payments and build relationships with their customers. They receive a six-digit till number that allows customers to pay using mobile money."
• Dimon Strengthens Grip at J.P. Morgan - Wall St. Journal - "…shareholders voted overwhelmingly against a proposal to split the chairman and chief executive roles…"
• BitInstant’s Charlie Shrem sees Bitcoin battles ahead - CoinDesk - "…it would be nice if regulations were standardized so businesspeople like him did not have to get fingerprinted again and again to comply with every state’s requirements."
• Swipely Raises $12.5M to Expand Push Into SMB Payment Analytics - Street Fight - "The payments processing and analytics play announced today that it has raised $12.5 million in new funding in a series B round led by Shasta Ventures…"
• Contactless cards: how safe is your money? - Guardian - "The even simpler alternative, I've found, is to have more than one contactless card in your wallet."
• Square will challenge PayPal with its own peer-to-peer cash service - GigaOm - "Square might just be another peer-to-peer payments setup, but it’s building up a consumer following thanks to Square Wallet..."
• Google Admits Defeat In Its 7-Year Battle With Amazon And PayPal - ReadWrite - "Google Checkout may have had great expectations, but it delivered little in the way of results."

On the wires:

• NRF To Reject ‘One-Sided’ Credit Card Swipe Fee Settlement - "The proposed settlement does nothing to bring swipe fees under control and would give Visa and MasterCard a legal blessing to continue their abuse of merchants and consumers indefinitely. No settlement at all would be better than this one-sided ‘agreement’…"
• Xoom and Vesta Announce Partnership for Mobile Wallet Integration - "Through this partnership, the Vesta wallet will also provide subscribers with access to Xoom's money transfer services directly from their smartphone."
• target="_blank"Swipely Secures $12 Million Series B Financing to Accelerate Growth - "It's a major innovation in payments and marketing for small business, and we hope it will transform the way merchants understand and engage with their customers."
• Mobile POS Grows to $2 Billion Market in North America, But Retailers Are Separating Hype From Reality - "…28% of North American retailers plan to adopt Mobile POS in some form by the end of 2013."
• Vesta Introduces New Mobile Wallet for Prepaid Operators featuring Integrated Suite of Financial Services - "By offering the Vesta PayMobile wallet, mobile network operators (MNOs) can enable their prepaid customers to conduct mobile commerce and access critical banking services through their smartphones."
• Virtual Piggy Signs First UK Partners - "Virtual Piggy promotes financial management while empowering youth under 18 to make purchasing, saving and other money management decisions for themselves…"

On the web:

• Apple Advances their Future Shopping App Again & More - Patently Apple - "Today's patent application adds at least five major aspects to the "Shopping" apps patent claims."
• Half of Visa’s payments will be via mobile by 2020, says Visa Europe VP - The Drum - "...Hawkett said that Visa views mobile as the opportunity to “redefine” payments."
• How to build trust in the Bitcoin ecosystem - Jeremy Liew - "So what is needed to create trusted Bitcoin companies?"
• Can Google Be The Amazon.com For The Rest Of The Web? - ReadWrite - "Virtually every other payment provider lacks the social integration that Google includes."
• New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More - Wired - "Payments are really the only online connection into every retail store that matters..."
• mPOS: Our Latest Disruptive Device For QSRs - GoPago Blog - "Our new mPOS will debut on the Nexus 4 with a card reader, rugged case and with our POS software already loaded for $49 a month."
• Safeway CEO has big plans for payment program that avoids bank debit card fees - San Francisco Business Times - "...Safeway is already hearing from other retailers eager to avoid fees associated with accepting debit cards carrying the MasterCard and Visa logos."
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Udayan Goyal (commenting on Google Wallet) - "In terms of wider industry impact, I think that incumbents will have to completely rethink how they make money around payments."
• Blimpie expands mobile repertoire with gift cards - Mobile Commerce Daily - "…40 percent of Blimpie’s traffic comes from mobile devices."
• The Road Ahead for Mobile Payments - Mobile Future Institute - "Overall, I came away with the impression there’s still quite a ways to go for mobile payments…"
• PayPal, Groupon, Square focus on traditional POS to boost mobile strategies - "In order for consumers to ditch their physical wallets in favor of digital wallets, merchants need to get rid of their old cash registers…"
• The mobile money paradox – if everyone wants it, why is it doing so badly? - Tomorrow's Transactions - "There are in excess of 160 live MM services being operated around the world right now, but despite high expectations created by success in Kenya, only a handful have thus far reached critical mass."

On the wires:

• Marqeta Online-to-Offline Commerce Engine Powering the Multi-Retailer Facebook Card - "We are very proud that Facebook has adopted our technology, and look forward to a lasting partnership with them…"
• Marqeta Raises $14 Million Series B to Accelerate Wide Adoption of its +M Platform - "Instead of receiving points and product rewards, Marqeta merchants simply give consumers more money to spend in grocery, restaurants, dry cleaning and beyond."
• BitPay Raises $2 Million led by Founders Fund - "Businesses selling electronics, precious metals, and other low-margin products over the internet are seeing a large increase in profitability by accepting bitcoin payments."
• Mobile Banking Explodes and Keynote Announces Who Does It Best – One Billion Mobile Banking Consumers Expected by 2017 - "Chase achieved its third consecutive win for Overall Score, while also repeating were Wells Fargo in second place and Bank of America in third."

Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) has announced the addition of several new merchants to its membership including Southwest Airlines, Brinker International, Inc. (parent company of Chili’s® Grill & Bar and Maggiano’s Little Italy®), Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC and RaceTrac.

Southwest supports efforts to bring a competitive mobile-payments network to the market that also protects consumer and merchant data,” said Chris Monroe, Treasurer, Southwest Airlines. “We’re proud to join the growing list of outstanding merchants backing MCX.”

On Twitter:

Here's my new @paypal card - yes, PayPal is issuing cards. It's too cool to have an account number on it. #payments twitter.com/joxman/status/…

— Jason Oxman (@joxman) May 7, 2013

On the web:

• The Banking Industry's Tech Nightmares Are Coming True - Motley Fool - "In the end, big banks and credit card companies need to realize that their era of dominating global payments could be coming to an end."
• Google Wins a Surprising Design Patent for a New Tablet based Credit Card Reader - Patent Bolt - "Google's design patent is for what appears to be a commercial tablet computer with a built-in credit card reader."
• Visa Plants a Seed for Growth Abroad - Wall St. Journal - A look at Visa's efforts in Rwanda.
• In Tomorrow’s Retail Universe, the Destination Is ‘You’ - StreetFight - "Based on clues we can see all around us, it is my belief that retail, as we’ve known it for at least the last two millennia, is coming to an end."
• More regulation of Bitcoin is a good thing - Lightspeed Venture Partners (Jeremy Lieu) - "Am I naive, am I a tool of the government overlords, or is more regulation an inevitable part of the path towards widespread Bitcoin adoption?"
• US financial regulator: We could regulate Bitcoin “if we wanted” - Ars Technica - "The American financial regulator for derivatives trading has told multiple news outlets that it is considering new rules for Bitcoin."
• Showrooming: Retailers Fight Back With New-Fangled Apps & Old-School Marketing - "Retailers, it appears, are getting better at keeping customers buying in the store, no matter what they are finding on their phones and tablets."
• Protecting Seniors from Identity Theft - Google Public Policy Blog - "Google’s Good to Know site is designed to help educate consumers of all ages about online threats and tools they can use to protect themselves…"
• The Next Phase of Social Business is the Collaborative Economy - Jeremiah Owyang - "That’s where brands will rent, lend, provide subscriptions to products and services to customers, or even further, allow customers to lend, trade, or gift branded products or services to each other."
• Mobile Payments Marked by Fragmentation and Increasing Channel Convergence, Says Fed - "While the U.S. mobile payments market continues to gain taction, it has not grown as steadily as expected, and the likelihood of mass adoption is not high…"

On the wires:

• Payments Veteran to Lead North America Business Development for ReD - "25-year payment services veteran John Lees is the company’s new North America vice president of sales."
• American Express Organizational Announcement – Daniel T. Henry, Chief Financial Officer - "Over the last few months Dan Henry and I have been discussing his plans for the next chapter of his personal and professional life."
• New AARP® Credit Card from Chase Offers Customers Cash Back on Every Purchase, Every Time - "By receiving 3 percent cash back on gas station and restaurant purchases and 1 percent on all other purchases, the average family can easily earn more than $250 cash back every year just by using the card."
• CPI Card Group Awarded US Patent for Innovative Secure Card Packaging Technology Utilized in Its Ultra Secure Pack™ Products - "The technology allows CPI to offer a superior, tamper proof, cost effective product for point of sale card activation applications including open loop prepaid cards."
• AIRTAG Enables Magento E-Commerce Sites to Mobilize in Native Mobile Wallet Apps - "For all retailers starting to think about how they are going to go mobile, we have created a solution that significantly eases the transition to digital commerce, without sacrificing the user experience."

Over on our Payments Views, Glenbrook's George Peabody shares his observations about the confluence of EMV chip card migration, mobile devices and authentication in the US market.

While EMV injects dynamic data into the payment message (as well as clear text PANs), it is an otherwise mostly static, single purpose platform. Compare that to the mobile device, which combines static data (SIM serial number, etc.) with recognizable configuration profiles for device fingerprinting, context-specific dynamic data such as location plus application-specific PIN or biometric entry. And that all happens before the payment transaction takes place.

On the web:

• Possible Fed Successor Has Admirers and Foes - NY Times - A look at Janet L. Yellen, Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve, by Binyamin Appelbaum.
• Federal Judge Threatens to Hold Merchant Trade Groups in Contempt Over Swipe-Fee Websites - WSJ - Judge John Gleeson is irritated about the website: http://merchantsobject.com/
• The Future of Mobile Payments: How to Make Sure You’re Ready
• PW Interview: Amber Feng, Stripe API, The Payment Web - Programmable Web - "Before Stripe, online payments mainly consisted of decades-old banking infrastructure grafted onto the web, resulting in an exceedingly complex process for businesses and a cumbersome experience for their customers..."
• Tesco: NFC payments are too complex and offer too few benefits - NFC World - "NFC was revolutionary 10 years ago but I think it just might have passed its sell-by date…"
• The Redesigned US$100 Note - coming October 8, 2013
• NACHA Positions the ACH Network To Be a P2P Payments Player - Digital Transactions - "...NACHA last August submitted an ACH P2P payments proposal for for comment last August and gave it final approval March 7."
• NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Highlights from Day One and NACHA PAYMENTS 2013: Day Two Highlights - GXS' All About B2B Blog - Patty Hines
• 2013 Advanced Payments Report - Edgar Dunn - "The Advanced Payments Report 2013 … is based on a review of the global payments landscape, surveys of payments industry stakeholder opinion…"
• Total System Services Management Discusses Q1 2013 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - "…on the issuing side of our business, we kicked off what I would describe as our most significant business and technology initiative since, really, the launch of TS2."
• American Express streamlines expense tracking via mobile app - Mobile Commerce Daily - "The ReceiptMatch program is being rolled out for American Express Open business card users…"
• Prepaid Popularity on the Rise - The Members Group Blog - "The American Bankers Association study also found that more than 50 percent of U.S. FIs currently offer, or plan to offer, prepaid or reloadable debit cards."
• Visa Survey: Prom Spending Surges 33% Nationwide - "Prom season spending is spiraling out of control as teens continuously try to one-up each other…"

On the wires:

• Tabbedout Launches Powerful Merchant Marketing Tool 'Periscope' - "Periscope gives merchants the ability to monitor customer use of Tabbedout, review their customer's purchase history, collect and respond to guest reviews and create mobile marketing campaigns…"
• CPI Card Group Expands EMV Card Manufacturing Capabilities to Support EMV Migration in the U.S. - "The migration to EMV in the U.S. is unprecedented in terms of size and scale."
• Consult Hyperion joins Open Identity Exchange - "OIX is a non-profit trade organization driving the adoption of new and existing online identity products and services through the development of trust frameworks and listing services."
• FactorTrust Launches Underbanked Index - "Every three months, the Underbanked Index will provide a range of data points including demographic, loan behavior, seasonal effects and others, to help shed light on underbanked consumers."
• Too Busy to Save Money: Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business Examines Why Consumers Pass Up Store Discounts - "Seiler's look at individuals' purchases over time likewise suggests they're trying to minimize search costs."
• PULSE and fisoc Announce Agreement to Provide Buzz Points Rewards Program to Financial Institutions - “In this digital age, our solution enables PULSE to offer its financial institution participants a fully turn-key rewards program. This will provide a distinct advantage to PULSE in the highly competitive debit industry.” (See: Buzz Points)
• NCR Introduces Anti-Skimming Technology to Help Banks Increase Consumer Trust and Reduce Costs - “There were approximately 20,000 skimming incidents in the United States last year. The average cost per incident approached $50,000 and skimming costs across a U.S. bank’s entire ATM network is equivalent to about $2,500 per ATM each year."

On the web:

• M-Pesa fraud losses less that 1% - Safaricom - "Chief executive Bob Collymore said the money lost in M-Pesa fraud averages 0.006 per cent of the amount transacted which currently stands at Sh2 billion daily."
• Bitcoin Buzz Draws Western Union, MoneyGram - Fox Business
• Credit Unions: Reinvent P2P Lending - Ron Shevlin - "I’m just thinking about how smaller FIs are going to compete with the big ones for the coveted lending market."
• Fewer Bank Accounts May Lead to More Savings, Study Finds - NY Times Bucks Blog - "In this research, we demonstrate that individuals allocating their earnings to a single account saved more than those who spread their earnings across multiple accounts…"
• A new way to pay restaurant bills - Seattle Times looks at the "RAIL" payment system...
• The real opportunity for payment startups: simplicity - VentureBeat (Jon Soberg) - "Intermediaries, paperwork, antiquated systems, processes, and regulations still play a prominent role in today’s ecosystem."
• US PIN Debit Consolidation - Tom Noyes - "I have a strong bet that the US banks will consolidate around a single PIN provider within the next 18 months."
• Adam Davidson Explains Bitcoin To Stephen Colbert (video) - Planet Money
• Visa Europe is holding its Insights 13 Conference today - follow the news in Visa Europe's Twitter feed. See pictures from the conference on Visa Europe's Pinterest board.
• “Mobile is the end game”: VeriFone discusses the future of payments as a service - My-Retail Media - "Ultimately, retailers' business is about making a sale. You either need to take a payment or redeem that value to a retailer."
• Bitcoin exchange BitFloor halts operations, shuts down - CNet - "Bitcoin exchange BitFloor announced Wednesday it is closing its trading operations and plans to return its remaining funds to its users."

On the wires:

• DeviceFidelity Adds Multiple NFC Patents to its Extensive Portfolio, Totaling 40 Granted and Allowed Patents Worldwide - "DeviceFidelity’s extensive portfolio of patents covers the implementation and management of NFC technology, security and unique miniaturization and amplification solutions…"
• Moneris Solutions and LightSpeed to Provide Integrated Mobile Payment Solutions for Canadian Retailers - "Our partnership with Moneris represents an important milestone in Canadian retail, which has been newly empowered by mobile, iPad(R) and Mac solutions that engage customers in an interactive and re-energized shopping environment…"
• Mobile Users Well Aware of Fraud but, for Many, Convenience Trumps Security Concerns - "Users may be willing to accept risk now in favor of convenience, but this tolerance will weaken as fraud continues to grow."
• Alliance Data Reports Record First-Quarter 2013 Results - "Revenue increased 18 percent to $1.05 billion while adjusted EBITDA increased 18 percent to $357 million for the first quarter of 2013."

On the web:

• Interview: MasterCard's Vision for a Cashless, Cardless, World - AdAge Digital - "Masterpass extends the idea of 'a world beyond cash' to be inclusive of 'a world beyond plastic.'"
• The best interface is no interface - Cooper - "As Jack Dorsey of Square explains, 'NFC is another thing you have to do. It’s another action you have to take. And it’s not the most human action to wave a device around another device and wait for a beep. It just doesn’t feel right.'"
• The Real Significance of the Bitcoin Boom (and Bust) - Time.com - "Once alternative currencies are frictionlessly available on the Internet, every laptop will become its own Cayman Island. However the current boom-and-bust plays out, Bitcoin is the beginning of something, not the end."
• Why Bitcoin crashed, and how Ripple might avoid the same fate - Gigaom - "That single point of failure is the most popular Bitcoin currency exchange, MtGox."
• Rakuten.com Shopping adds a new digital wallet payment option - Internet Retailer - "Online marketplace Rakuten.com Shopping announced this week it has added a digital wallet service called MasterPass to the handful of alternative payment options offered."
• Retail Sales Unexpectedly Fall - Reuters - "Retail sales fell 0.4 percent during the month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was below analysts' expectations that sales would be flat."
• How does Bitcoin work? - The Economist - "Unlike traditional currencies, which are issued by central banks, Bitcoin has no central monetary authority."
• MCX Makes Its Case for a Merchant-Led Mobile Wallet - PaymentsSource - "As the Merchant Customer Exchange asserts its position in the mobile wallet market, it emphasizes that the path to a consumer’s physical wallet runs through retailers."
• America’s Most Profitable Export Is Cash - NY Times Economix Blog - "Measured in dollar terms, there is 42 percent more cash in circulation today than five years ago."

On the wires:

• CLEAR and Visa Offer Expedited Travel for Visa Signature Account Holders - "Visa Signature account holders can enroll to receive discounted pricing on CLEAR membership with a six-month free trial plus $60 off the annual renewal rate of $179."
• Elavon and Banco Santander Close Deal to Deliver Merchant Services in Spain - "The agreement establishes the JV, Santander Elavon Merchant Services, 51% of which will belong to Elavon and the remaining 49% to Santander."

The Direct Response Forum (DRF) has released survey results from this years annual event held in Memphis in August. The merchant survey showed interchange fees the #1 concern of payment professionals (57% of the respondents), CNP Chargeback Rules are #2 concern, and PCI compliance the #3 concern. The DRF is a forum for CNP merchants; this year event attracted 420 payment professionals that collectively represent billions of dollars in card-not-present credit and debit card transactions every year.

comScore has released its Q2 2010 U.S. retail eCommerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $32.9 billion for the quarter, up 9% versus year ago. This growth rate represented the third consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth following a year of flat or negative growth rates. READ MORE »

RSA has publised a new security brief titled "Secure Payment Services: Card Data Security Transformed" which is available for download from their website. According to the company, "the new RSA Security Brief introduces a model for outsourcing credit card data security called "secure payment services." Secure payment services transfer safeguarding card information to outside service providers, improving electronic card data security while simultaneously reducing the time, complexity and cost of achieving PCI compliance for merchants."

Apple has introduced a new Apple Store iPhone application that provides a new interface to buying from the online Apple Store. In addition to shopping from the application, it provides the location and directions to the nearest Apple retail store, allows scheduling of Personal Shopping, Genius Bar, and One to One appointments, and sign up for workshops and events at local Apple Stores. [Editor's note: I used the new Apple Store app to reserve my new iPhone 4 for pickup next week!]

Earlier today, the British Retail Consortium published its Cost of Payment Collection Survey 2009. The survey, based on data covering 53% of total UK retail sales, found that debit cards are the most used form of payment representing 44% of UK retail sales. Cash represents 32% of sales - but 58% of transactions - while credit cards represent 21% of sales. Cheques acceptance is minimal - only 1% of sales.

In terms of costs per transaction, debit cards were 8.5 pence, cash 2.1 pence, credit cards 33.3 pence, charge cards 50.3 pence and cheques 38.6 pence. The weighted average costs across all tender types was 8 pence.

In a separate press release also issued today, the BRC asked for the UK Government to intervene the reduce the fees retailers pay to banks for card acceptance.

CoreLogic Credco has announced the introduction of OneCheck, a suite of merchant verification and risk mitigation products, provided through a newly established merchant services division. According to the company, "OneCheck is the industry’s most flexible and competitively priced suite of merchant verification solutions available. It instantly collects, sorts and combines hundreds of decisioning data elements into an easy-to-read comprehensive report – all in a single transaction. The result is a consolidated one-source solution for fast, reliable risk mitigation and merchant prequalification." READ MORE »

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said in a press release today that, "as part of its promised clampdown on irresponsible banking behaviour, the new Government should intervene to cut the excessive charges banks levy on retailers for accepting plastic. The combination of unjustifiably high card charges and growth of non-cash payment methods promises big windfalls for banks and a financial blow for shops and customers." READ MORE »

Target has announced that beginning this fall customers will receive 5 percent off at check-out every day when they use a REDcard at any Target store or on Target.com. Target’s REDcards include the Target Credit Card, Target Visa Credit Card and Target Check Card debit product. READ MORE »

First Data Corp. has published a new white paper titled "Where Security Fits in the Payment Processing Chain" that provides an overview of security vulnerabilities and identifies cost-effective technology-based solutions that are readily available today to help merchants security sensitive data and improve their PCI compliance.

The US Department of Commerce has announced that retail sales for April 2010 increased 0.4 percent from the previous month and 8.8 percent above April 2009.

Target Corporation has announced that all new qualified credit card applicants will receive the Target Credit Card, a credit product accepted at all Target stores and Target.com. Effective April 29, 2010, Target will no longer issue the Target Visa Credit Card to new credit card applicants. Existing Target Visa Credit Card holders will not be affected. READ MORE »

Ingenico has introduced the Ingenico ROAM suite of mobile applications - including ROAMpay and ROAMbuy - to help sales agents, mobile workforce professionals, and merchants reach and service consumers on their own mobile phones. The applications result from a strategic investment Ingenico made recently to work with ROAM Data Inc., a Boston-based mobile application service provider. According to Ingenico, "ROAM's patented technology enables it to be the only provider to dynamically deliver business and payment applications to nearly 200 million US customers, regardless of carrier on hundreds of different devices from smartphones to feature phones running J2ME and Brew." READ MORE »

In an article titled "iPhone credit card swipe war heats up", Jessica Bruder writes for CNNMoney.com about several new approaches to enable iPhones to become point-of-sale devices for payment card acceptance: Square, VeriFone Payware Mobile, and Mophie - among others.

Bruder writes: "They're battling each other for the hearts -- and wallets -- of mobile merchants, promising an improvement over the clunky, hardwired credit card terminals that have been a staple of brick-and-mortar commerce for decades."

Target has announced that shoppers no longer have to carry their Target GiftCards in order to redeem them, thanks to the new Target Mobile GiftCard. Using Target’s mobile technology, any shopper can save GiftCard information to a PIN-secure account on the Target.com mobile site. Target says that "all that’s needed is a mobile phone with Internet capabilities which a guest can use to retrieve GiftCard barcodes for scanning at checkout." READ MORE »

MasterCard has announced MasterCard Advisors Merchant Solutions - calling it a "first-of-its-kind suite of information products, data analytics and marketing services [that[ will enable decision makers across merchant organizations to understand spending activity in their industry category; evaluate their sales performance against their competitive set; and focus direct marketing efforts to target the very best prospects and hard to reach segments." READ MORE »

Fiserv has announced Deposit Manager, "an integrated cash deposit solution that is designed to allow financial institutions to offer their retailing clients an improved way to handle end-to-end cash operations." READ MORE »

ACI Worldwide has announced the availability of a report by Retail Systems Research (RSR), examining the future of retail payments. The research was sponsored by ACI Worldwide and "highlights the need for retailers to review and upgrade their payment systems, to ensure they can remain innovative and meet changing customer needs." READ MORE »

The Payments System Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has released a Payments Systems Briefing titled "An Update on Interchange Legislation in the United States" by Research Associate Christian Hung. The briefing "provides a summary of recent developments in interchange legislation in the United States as well as the recently released Government Accountability Office report detailing its findings on interchange fees."

Wildcard Network has announced the launch of its free Wildcard iPhone application - now available in the iTunes Store.

According to the company, the "Wildcard app brings gift cards to life by offering a convenient and intuitive way to manage and gift on the iPhone." Using the app, you can buy and use gift cards from the iPhone. When you need to make a purchase, the app displays a bar code that the merchant's POS scans.

In an article titled "Hurdle Emerges for Stores Pitching Credit Cards", Robin Sidel writes for the Wall Street Journal about concerns that some major retailers have with proposed Federal Reserve regulations that would "force retailers to gather more financial information from customers— including how much they earn— before giving them credit."

Cardlytics has announced the expansion of its transactional marketing platform for national, local and online retailers - saying that its "patent-pending platform enables retailers to deliver targeted promotional offers to consumers through their online banking statements. These offers are delivered as cash or other reward incentives, which are earned once the consumer makes a qualifying purchase with a debit or credit card, whether in-store or online. ... With its unique tracking capabilities, Cardlytics is the first platform to target and track both offline and online consumer redemptions via digitally targeted ads." READ MORE »

A few minutes ago, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted about his new company: Square - a new way to accept payments. Checkout his tweets, the new Square twitter tweets and the new Square website. More information about Square is in this TechCrunch article including a video demonstration and an interview with Dorsey..