ING Direct is the first new organisation to join eftpos since the payments network was formed as a company in late 2009.  Bruce Mansfield, eftpos managing director, said ING Direct was already participating in the eftpos transformation program and was expected to be among the first financial institutions in Australia to start issuing eftpos chip cards and to begin processing transactions through the new eftpos hub. Mortgage delinquency rates across Australia, as monitored by Fitch Ratings, increased to an average of 1.35 per cent at the end of March 2014, up from 1.24 per cent at the end of September 2013. This was partly due to Christmas overspending, the ratings agency said. Interest rates have had a slow impact during the twelve months to March 2014, as arrears are 10 basis points lower than 12 months before. The low interest rate environment of the past 12 months has seen local unemployment and economic trends become more important influences of regional mortgage performance. Pockets of poor performing loans aside, the gap between the best and worst-performing states was at a record low 11 bps (versus the average of 76 bps over the past eight years). French major BNP Paribas was hit with a US$9 billion fine and placed on trading restrictions earlier this week by US regulators as punishment for its cynical and aggravated sanction-busting. "We deeply regret the past misconduct that led to this settlement," the bank's CEO, Jean-Laurent Bonnafe told the US public in a page-long open letter remarkably similar in tone and content to that issued yesterday by the CBA on behalf of its misbehaving wealth divisions. Looking locally, the news for BNP's Australian business operations is more positive, as Banking Day understands that there have been no repercussions here.