David Heun

Long after e-commerce removed the biggest obstacles preventing U.S. merchants from selling internationally, there are still untapped pockets of opportunity.

Because cash remains a staple for customers at many businesses, a service like Total Armored Car cash delivery continues to be important to managing cash flow. But how companies go about ordering a cash delivery at Total Armored hasn't changed in decades — until now.

Though the Merchant Customer Exchange failed to deliver a consumer-facing mobile wallet for its mega-retailer backers, Buy It Mobility Networks (BIM) says the underlying technology it provided is still sound.

After stubbing its toe in Norway, Denmark's Danske Bank is seeking Finnish bank partners to help boost its MobilePay service as a payment method at nearly one thousand S Group grocery stores.

Square burst on the payments scene nine years ago with a card reader that allowed small merchants to accept plastic card payments through their mobile devices. Its Square Cash app received considerably less fanfare — until now.

The network says more than $100 billion in Swift GPI payment messages are sent daily, enabling payments to be credited to the end beneficiaries within minutes — and some within seconds.

Backed by the Clover platform, merchants using the devices can manage their businesses in real-time over an online backend portal that can be accessed from a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Consumers aren't leaving without paying, but are paying through an app that avoids the point of sale.

Banks and cardholders will be able to verify purchases, increase credit limit, add cards immediately, provide feedback to retailers, receive on-demand coupons, or upgrade card benefits.

American Express claims its rules allow it to better compete against other major card networks. The complaining states view anti-card steering rules as a way to block other networks from offering lower fees, thus resulting in retailers raising prices for consumers.