David Heun

The turning point was Apple Pay, which Discover did not support until September of 2015, nearly a year after the mobile wallet's launch.

As consumers adopt mobile wallets or in-app payments, it leaves some acquirers and merchants struggling to keep up — especially if their current point-of-sale systems struggle to handle multiple software programs and apps.

The concept of Smart Cities — which use mobile payments, global positioning and related technology to streamline parking, transit, building access and traffic — is deeply intertwined with the development of payments technology and regulation.

As the concept of smart cities — urban settings undergoing a digital transformation through "internet of things" technology and connected platforms — evolves, so too will the concept of making a payment.

Quicken and U.S. Bank are launching a co-branded contactless credit card that will integrate with Quicken's personal finance software and mobile app.

Any future machine-to-machine environment calling for communication and transactions will surely include a consumer's option to make payments through such a network. That turns any home or business into its own complex network of devices, routers, sensors, passwords, communication coding and private credentials.

Blockchain may have received its most exposure as the distributed ledger technology at the foundation of cryptocurrency exchanges, but its use cases are advancing into other data-driven or supply-chain industries pursuing the Internet of Things.

Atlanta-based Global Payments is working with startup InVision, a design company that works with companies like Google and Netflix, to design a portal that will allow merchants to quickly work with banks or customers to reconcile and troubleshoot transactions, including addressing disputes and chargebacks.

PayPal is using Venmo's fast growth to power several initiatives, but the app suffered a damaging fraud surge early this year, showing it's not immune from enrollment fraud that challenges the entire P2P sector.

Payments processor Elavon has agreed to provide Belgium's leading postal operator with payment acceptance services at more than 650 locations.

There's never a good time to expose customer data, but the incident Amazon disclosed Wednesday could upend two major events: Black Friday/Cyber Monday and a reported effort to get merchants to accept Amazon at the point of sale.

Chase is planning to enable users of the Chase Pay app to receive and redeem custom offers from merchants, in addition to the ability to find offers from more than 150 merchants through the Chase Mobile app.

Capital One is banking on a tool to help online shoppers find better prices to bring more holiday shopping transactions their way.

Seeking a stronger foothold in the growing India payments landscape, Visa has made a minority investment in digital payments platform BillDesk.

Starbucks has established itself as a model for mobile payments among coffee drinkers, but Barclays is partnering with a U.K. coffee chain to take it a step further by bringing the coffee cup itself into play.

The massive number of fraudulent bot attacks on the payments ecosystem and financial services is compounded by the fact that many current data protection tools are not designed to detect this automated crime network.

A former Lloyds Banking Group executive is joining financial messaging service provider Swift as its head of U.K., Ireland and Nordics operations.

Think of Western Union, and its yellow placard advertising an agent location comes to mind. It's a physical branding and marketing component that few money-transfer providers can match — but one that's of diminishing value in a digital world.

Taking a cue from his previous success in commercial cash checking services, Conext CEO Michael Casalini hopes a Venmo-style mobile app that supports a quick conversion of checks to digital money can attract small businesses.

Right on the heels of securing a partnership with Amazon to benefit small business owners, American Express is launching a new Business Gold Card designed to reward spending in key categories and offer extra management tools.