US prepaid debit cards provider NetSpend teams with consumer financial services provider Axcess Financial to roll out the NetSpend Axcess Prepaid MasterCard and the NetSpend National Savings Programme across the country. The reloadable prepaid debit card is to be made available via Axcess Financial's distribution channels.

A survey shows that 89 percent of those taking part in the O2 Wallet trial would like to have Oyster cards on their phone, whereas two-thirds would be interested in having he Barclaycard Visa payWave feature on their mobile phone in the future. Convenience, ease-of-use and the status of having a mobile payments-enable device were seen as the main benefits.

A study indicates that in Latin America, e-commerce, including travel and tourism, has shown an upward curve in the recent years, registering nearly USD 5 billion in 2005, climbing to USD 7.78 billion in 2006 and USD 11 billion in 2007. According to forecasts, the figure is to surpass USD 16 billion in 2008 and jump to USD 30 billion in 2010.

A report indicates that in Korea, cardholders own 3.78 cards on average, turning the country's per capita credit and debit card issuance into the second highest in the world. US is positioned first with an average of 5.3 credit and debit cards per capita, while Singapore ranks third with 2.98 cards on average. The following positions are occupied by UK, with 2.36 cards on average, Netherlands (1.92 cards) and Belgium (1.57 cards).

Market Online, one of the main players on the Romanian online commerce market, recorded a turnover of nearly EUR 6 million in the first six months of 2008. During this period, the products which ranked highest in customer preferences were laptops, mobile phones and PDA sites. Laptops accounted for 35 percent of online sales for the first half of 2008, while mobile phones and PDAs stood at 20 percent and 15 percent respectively.

US prepaid card vendor Springbok Services now offers private label prepaid cards for its corporate clients. Springbok’s new private label prepaid cards are fully customisable, allowing clients to promote their organisation and strengthen their brand among their target audiences.