Bailey Reutzel

It took a decade and a government mandate for the U.K. banking industry to develop a set of rails to transfer funds from one bank account to another in seconds.

Innovation is not a competition. If both incumbents and startups in the fintech market would just accept that, mobile wallets and broader payments applications would have already been realized, according to Jonathan Vaux, executive director of Visa Europe.

The new digital currency entrepreneurs are stripping the bitcoins from Bitcoin, building new iterations of the underlying blockchain technology without clinging to any digital currency token.

Zumigo, an identity provider, is expanding the reach of its mobile location verification service to online merchants.

There is a growing opportunity for health care providers to benefit from adding a self-service option, particularly as the portion of revenue they get directly from patients increases.

Some "friendly fraud" is more manipulative than friendly. Global Risk Technologies wants to help merchants appeal more chargebacks and get back some of the billions of dollars lost to friendly fraud.

Technology is rapidly changing payments, turning it into something that more closely resembles a layered ecosystem like an electrical grid than a traditional financial service.

As payment providers shift more of their operations online, they may still find a need for spoken communication with their clients — even when those clients also sell exclusively online.

Israeli payments technology provider Zooz has recently moved into the financial capitals of the world, opening offices in both New York City and London.

Sibling rivalry can be fierce. While Visa Europe pushes its own technology for online and mobile commerce — setting the stage for Apple Pay in the U.K. — its brother VocaLink is readying the launch of Zapp, a payment system that that cuts the card networks out of the equation by directing purchases through bank accounts.

Yoyo, a QR code-based mobile wallet provider, is cutting through the noise to find a working strategy for its product.

James Anderson, senior vice president of shared platform services in the emerging payments group at MasterCard, has been "droning on" for nearly a decade about contactless payments. And the industry is finally catching up.

"The number of women that apply to join payments companies is still much lower than the number of men, and ... when you start your career and can't see anyone that looks or thinks like you at the top, this is not inspiring."

"[Our] efforts have helped eBay to more than double the number of women in leadership roles, as well as increase the share of leadership positions held by women in the last three years."

"Payments and digital are highly interconnected and both are rapidly evolving growth areas."

"One boss mentored me and told me to go out and learn everything I could about my job and all the other jobs I managed and those jobs of my peers. It was good advice as I did this throughout my career and no one could question my knowledge."

"It's important that we do not allow the dynamic nature of the industry to overwhelm participants and merchants."

"Instead of focusing on barriers that stand in the path of a rising star, I want to concentrate on steps that women can take to propel themselves to the next rung in their payments career."

Transfast has upped its game in Kenya, offering instant deposits to three banks in the country and connecting its service with M-Pesa mobile money accounts, a poster child for mobile payment success.

Mobile network operators have faced setbacks in mobile payments, but some experts insist they still have a place in the market. Others are not so sure.