Bailey Reutzel

OnStar, a unit of General Motors, aims to be a leader in the use of Near Field Communication technology for automotive-related payments.

Wex Inc., partnering with CashStar, now allows its retailers in Australia and New Zealand to offer customized eGift cards. This move is part of an ongoing strategy on the Wex's part to diversify its offerings and its audience.

A company called Movaluate is distributing reprogrammable Near Field Communication chips, a move that could help erase some of the business and technological hurdles payments companies face. It might also open NFC to a new group of developers.

SCVNGR-created LevelUp announced today that it has 500,000 users, which it says is validation of its unconventional approach to point of sale payments.

U.S. Bank in Minneapolis would gain an in-house prepaid card processor and tap a rich corporate payroll segment in buying FSV Payment Systems.

The deal to buy FSV would provide U.S. Bank access to a crucial piece of the prepaid market it can do a lot with — the corporate payroll segment.

Guitar Center added a new payments instrument at the point of sale, integrating PayPal via middleware provider AJB Software Design Inc.

This holiday season many retailers are introducing experimental payment technology — but will shoppers, stressed and desperate, find benefit in these experiences or stick to methods they know?

Facebook now allows customers of Orange, a French wireless operator, to make purchases online and have the charges added to their phone bills.

SCVNGR's LevelUp is targeting a broader audience for its mobile-payment system by working with the prepaid card marketer NetSpend. The partnership represents new territory for both companies.

Junk food and beer are staples at every sports game, and the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., is adding another one: mobile payments with SCVNGR's LevelUp.

As more banks offer prepaid cards, some are tying the cards' pricing to other relationships with the bank — a decision that may send the wrong message to the underbanked consumers most likely to use prepaid.

Mobile apps from Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts may prove useful for on-the-go coffee guzzlers, but their approach may not translate well to other retail environments. A few companies are taking a different approach to modernizing payments for sit-down restaurants and other merchants.

Bitcoin enthusiasts, playing off the holiday tradition of Black Friday sales, held their own Bitcoin Friday last week, leading to a spike in Bitcoin transactions at some — but not all — participating merchants.

To provide quick, secure signup and login to its customers, Virtual Piggy Inc. has integrated its online payment system with PayPal.

Expanding its partnership with ChinaPay, Western Union is allowing institutions of higher education and universities to accept student fees and international tuition in the Chinese Renminbi.

Recently launched Shpock wants to facilitate the buying and selling of products listed online, but the system was designed to deliberately omit payments from the process.

At first, payments players were wary of the LevelUp mobile-pay system, but the startup behind it is fast building relationships with the very companies it could potentially disrupt.

American Express has been inching its way downmarket through a series of partnerships with companies involved in social media and online games. Its latest move may be its biggest yet — Amex is paying cardholders for playing and completing the latest installment in the massively popular Halo video game series.

The first considerable change for the Bitcoin market nears — the date when rewards for 'mining' the digital currency drop from 50 to 25 bitcoins per block generated.