Bailey Reutzel

The portion of the population that relies heavily on cash is seeing new ways to use more mainstream financial services, including methods to better load cash onto stored-value cards.

Boston-based independent sales organization Merchant Warehouse is launching its Genius payment acceptance product for general availability. The system has been in testing since June 2012.

InterContinental Hotels Group announced a multi-year agreement with MasterCard to be the exclusive payment network for its hotel loyalty rewards consumer credit card portfolio in the U.S.

Last year, KeyBank saw an important gap in its credit card strategy – not owning its card portfolio meant it did not have the control it needed to properly manage its relationships with its customers. This week KeyBank announced the next step in its credit card strategy.

Working with Accion, the companies plan to connect governments, NGOs, the private sector and others to expand access to credit, savings, payment tools and insurance for people across the globe.

Visa and Citigroup, working with the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion, plan to connect governments, NGOs, the private sector and others to advance global financial access by the end of this decade. Their Financial Inclusion 2020 campaign aims to do this by increasing access to credit, savings, payment tools and insurance for people all over the world.

The alternative payment provider Dwolla's recent partnership with the Iowa state government earns the company credibility while also opening the door to an area that needs to modernize the way it handles money.

Many personal financial management tools were designed to pool payment data from multiple accounts, but a few companies are testing a different premise by offering tools to analyze the data of just one account.

Nacha, the electronic payments association, issued guidelines for the use of quick-response (QR) codes for consumer bill payment.

Nacha, the electronic payments association, issued guidelines for the use of quick-response (QR) codes for consumer bill payment.

Synqera is trying to set itself apart from rivals in the targeted-offer crowd by using point-of-sale hardware with data collection tools that look at everything from weather patterns to the shopper's mood.

Little-known global payments provider Adyen processed $10 billion worth of transactions in 2012, a new record the company points out is on par with the volume of mobile payments processor Square. So does this mean that Adyen is becoming a threat to Jack Dorsey’s brainchild and other processors?

A new service from Go Daddy will provide a website complete with digital shopping cart and online payment acceptance supported by First Data.

Plimus Inc., an e-commerce services provider, attracted more than 5,000 customers in 145 countries without much marketing. That user base hints at the growing demand for processing technology that equips merchants with payments mechanisms on their e-commerce websites.

Go Daddy will implement First Data Corp.’s technology to provide online payments processing services to small businesses.

Citibank India announced the launch of a mobile and tablet card reading device today developed by Ezetap Mobile Solutions.

While the rest of the industry focuses on technology to replace cash, PayNearMe knows many people still use cash and wants to help these consumers make online payments easier with its new PayNearMe Express service.

Seth Priebatsch, the 24-year-old founder and head of the mobile payment system LevelUp, has made his company a serious player in the emerging payments market — yet he also sports the less-than-serious job title of "chief ninja." The nickname, he explains, has much to do with his approach to running a business.

Many companies are trying to repurpose iPads as payment terminals. Leaf, a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup, instead created a commerce-specific tablet for small-business owners.

The concept of making anonymous online transactions is in the spotlight because of the prominence of the digital currency Bitcoin, but most consumers remain uneasy with the cryptocurrency's instability and risk. An alternative for the privacy-minded might sprout from Tor, or The Onion Router.