David Heun

"If we stay the course, I’m optimistic that we’ll put an end to the era of mass data breaches at merchants," Richey predicts. However, she has been in the payments industry for 22 years and does not approach her job with blinders.

As the payments industry advances at a lightning-fast speed, Stephanie Ferris plans on enjoying that ride — as long as it benefits Vantiv's customers.

Patty Watson admits she stays awake at night with thoughts of what, to TSYS and its clients, would be a true nightmare — a data breach. But that fear keeps Watson focused on the task at hand of assuring such threats can be thwarted.

Developers will now be able to access much of Visa's technology and services as the card network looks for ways to meet the demands of consumers increasingly relying on connected devices to transact.

For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, Visa is inviting third-party software developers onto its network with the goal of advancing digital commerce.

U.S. merchants are still reluctant to embrace 3D Secure technology to protect card-not-present transactions, even though it has vastly improved from the initial tedious version that irritated consumers more than a decade ago.

Square, which has been selling its Apple-friendly new reader for $49 on its own site, revealed Feb. 3 that it will sell the readers for the same price at Apple stores.

Seeking a way to rid its network of paper tickets, rail operators in the U.K. are extending the use of contactless ticketing through smartphones or cards.

The European Commission wants to snuff out terrorist funding, a strategy that could include tight monitoring of cash and Bitcoin, and national account registers.

Fraudsters focusing on attacking account creation apparently like the trend of merchants storing consumer payment data to make repeat purchases easier for shoppers.

For many e-commerce merchants, the migration to EMV-chip card security at the point of sale — and the expected shift of fraud to the Web — is akin to a message in a bottle that hasn't washed ashore. Too many simply don't know about it.

On the surface, traditional bankers and third-party disruptors may not always have the same approaches in mind, but the gap between their goals and how to go about it is increasingly getting smaller.

Barclays is reportedly informing customers that it is planning to post an update to its U.K. website and through Twitter to indicate when it will support Apple Pay.

It can't be labeled simply as a faster payments initiative or even an attempt to rework cross-border payments rails, but Swift's Global Payments Innovation initiative is definitely on a fast track.

Splitit has expanded its interest-free installment payments technology to health care providers, enabling their patients to receive instant approval to finance health care costs through their Visa or MasterCard credit cards on file.

Retailers often worry that their customers won't return after a breach, but as logical as this expectation is, it may be far from the truth.

If mobile wallet developers are banking on young consumers to become early adopters, they should not include college students amongst them.

If mobile wallet developers are banking on young consumers to become early adopters, they should not include college students amongst them.

Discover says it will help consumers seeking to establish or rebuild a credit score by expanding the availability of its Discover It Secured Credit Card, which offers the cash-back rewards and security measures of its mainstream cards.

Reeling from the loss of the Costco account and other setbacks in 2015, American Express is looking to the future the same way any investor might — banking on the diversification of its portfolio to slowly climb back.