• NYCE Looks to 2010 for SafeDebit Rollout, Pilot Later This Year
• 41st Parameter Names J. Peter Selda as Chief Executive Officer
• Paymetric Adds to Management Team to Position Company for Strategic Growth
• MarketWatch: Visa secures $1 bln via stock sale in Brazil

The agency will be dedicated to looking out for American families when they take out loans or use other financial products or services – with a mission to promote access and protect consumers from unscrupulous practices across the market. This new agency will implement and enforce the new credit card bill signed into law by President Obama and Congress and have authority to combat the worst abuses in mortgage markets. This legislation creates an agency to promote transparency, simplicity, fairness, accountability, and access – laying the cornerstone for the effort to fundamentally reform our system of financial regulation.

In an article titled "Banks Balk at Agency Meant to Aid Consumers", Edmund L. Andrews writes for the New York Times that "banks and mortgage lenders are placing top priority on killing President Obama’s proposal to create a new consumer protection agency."

• NYTimes.com: Bank Fees Rise as Lenders Try to Offset Losses
• Visa Signature Partners with Fandango for Exclusive Movie Ticket Perks
• Reuters: US fines American Express over convenience checks
• Merchants' Choice Markets Hypercom Optimum to 41,000+ Retailers
• MasterCard Canada Welcomes Senate Committee's Rejection of Price Controls and Support of Debit Competition
• 24/7 Wall Street: Citigroup (C) To Jack Up Credit Card Rates On 15 Million Accounts
• AuctionBytes: BofA, First Data Joint Venture Looks at Mobile Payment Processing

"A lot of industries were severely affected by the financial crisis. Despite a slowdown in the SPA payment smart card shipments at the end of 2008, the smart card manufacturers are not as heavily impacted as others can be", said Marie-Jane Denis, President of the Smart Payment Association. "High volumes continue to be shipped around the world and a majority of regions carry on their migration to EMV standards."

Earlier this month Heartland announced it was working with Voltage Security to develop its end-to-end encryption approach.

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that "Monitise said Visa has agreed to take a 14.4% stake" for $13 million.

• Digital Transactions: Travel Agents Prepare to Fight United on New Card-Acceptance Policy
• TSYS Addresses Merchant Processing Client (Bank of America)
• SIlicon Valley Insider: Facebook Is Going After PayPal, Google Checkout
• MoneyGram International and Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank Announce Strategic Relationship to Launch Kingdom's Largest Global Money Transfer Network
• United terminates some agents' right to process its credit card transactions
• Consumer Affairs: Credit Cards Giving Consumers Heartburn
• TransCard Extending Their Cardholders’ Reach with PULSE Network
• New Report from Javelin Strategy and Research: Understanding How PCI-Compliant Companies Can Be Breached
• Zoompass Blog: Paying with Zoompass
• Fidelity National Information Services' Mobile Banking Solution Earns Top Ranking in Analyst Survey
• The Omaha World-Herald: First Data forms new company with bank
• The Associated Press: Bank employees protest 'anti-consumer' practices
• Bloomberg.com: FICO Scores Show Flaws as U.S. Banks Cut Consumer Credit Lines
• Credit card debt poised to fall?
• New Report Forecasts Increase in Mobile Banking Adoption
• Firethorn Increases Mobile Banking Security With Full PCI Compliance
• PayPal India Launches New Seller Protection for its eBay Sellers
• Sacramento Bee: Peer-to-Peer Lending is Flourishing Amid the Credit Crisis
• The Hindu Business Line: Citi brings NFC mobile payments to India
• Visa Inc. Announces Decision to Fund Litigation Escrow Account

According to the two companies, Banc of America Merchant Services, LLC will provide clients "with the most comprehensive suite of innovative payments solutions including credit, debit and prepaid cards to merchant loyalty, check and eCommerce payments."

From the report: "In 2008, credit card banks with assets in excess of $200 million reported net earnings before taxes of 1.43 percent of outstanding balances adjusted for credit card-backed securitization, down 132 basis points or nearly 48 percent from 2007. The 2008 rate of return is very low by historic standards; well below the average rate of return of 3.03 percent since 1986."

“Cash flow problems are back to levels that are more in line with what we’ve typically seen since the Watch began nearly three years ago,” said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. “Cash flow concerns usually erode confidence because they represent something tangible to a business owner, more so than an expectation or perception about the economy.”

• New Mercator Advisory Group Report: The Resilient Nature of Prepaid: A Bright Spot in a Down Economy
• Marketplace from American Public Media: A debit card is not a credit card
• Fiserv Names Maryann Goebel Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer
• WSJ.com: Brazil's VisaNet Debuts On Exchange, Opens With 13% Gain
• Washington Post: Supreme Court Allows States to Challenge National Banks
• Springbok Launches Prepaid Payroll and Automated Bill Pay to Help Clients Optimize Payment Processes
• Small Business Trends: How to Choose Between a Credit Card and a Charge Card
• MasterCard Invites Consumers on a Priceless Escape to 'Break in a Pair of Jeans' This Summer
• New Celent Report: Indian Mobile Banking: Unexplored Opportunity
• Payment Data Systems, Inc. Announces e-Check Service Partnership with Plug’n Pay Technologies
• The Financial Services Club's Blog: Cracking ATMs the malware way

Examples? "Bank of America this year raised the maximum number of times customers can get hit with overdraft fees from five a day to 10. On top of that, it began charging a one-time fee of $35 if the account remains in the negative for more than five days."

More here.

This new research brief is based findings from a series of interviews conducted with business-to-business suppliers about credit card acceptance conducted earlier this year. There's a form in the article for you to request a download of the report.

This is a nightmare scenario for a merchant acquirer - tickets purchased using credit cards for a future performance that ultimately doesn't happen. This is why merchant acquirers are as concerned about the nature of the goods/services being sold as they are about the merchant itself. It will be interesting to watch as this plays out in the UK.

• BusinessWeek: Credit-Card Companies: Who Qualifies Now?
• TheCabin.net: Acxiom cuts pay, employee benefits
• Seeking Alpha: Why Credit Card Interchange Fees Should Come Down
• Heartland Payment Systems Selects MicroStrategy to Deliver Enhanced Reporting Capabilities to its Customers
• Heartland Payment Systems Enhances Campus Dining Point-of-Sale Systems
• WSJ: VisaNet IPO Puts a Charge Into J.P. Morgan
• Delta Community Credit Union Selects Mobile MoneySM from Fiserv
• Reuters: VisaNet says shareholders raise 8.4 bln reais in IPO
• Mobile Banker: Telecoms Get Their Due in Payments