Financial institutions Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo have distinguished themselves as digital banking frontrunners among the top 20 retail banks, according to a recent report.

Technology provider of payment processing services Global Electronic Technology (GET) has named Kevin Hoehn president and member of the companys board of directors.

MasterCard is to implement the DirectExpress debit card for retirees, the disabled and others who receive Social Security and other benefits in Connecticut, 12 other states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 2.4 million Social Security recipients in this area are about to receive information on the new card with their monthly cheques in July.

Two US courts from Los Angeles, California and New Heaven, Connecticut have convicted 38 members of an international gang responsible for an internet phishing scheme. The indicted individuals operated from the US and other countries including Canada, Pakistan, Portugal and Romania. They allegedly defrauded thousands of individuals and hundreds of financial institutions, including Citibank, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, Comerica, Wells Fargo, eBay and PayPal.

Electronic check exchange business SVPCO, subsidiary of The Clearing House Payments Company, reports that the SVPCO Image Payments Network had an average daily volume of 16.8 million items for January 2008, an increase of 150 percent compared to same period of the last year.

US-based Astoria Federal Savings and Loan association signs an agreement with the payment services provider Clearing House Payments company, by which the former is to exchange check images via the SVPCO image payments network.