David Heun

Rather than join the throngs of financial services companies advertising their affiliation with Apple Pay on TV, radio and in print, Discover Financial Services is communicating to customers by turbocharging its rewards program.

Major payment processors are lining up in support of Android Pay, which Google began rolling out in the U.S. last week.

It's no secret that restaurants are going to be slow to adopt EMV relative to other retail categories, but in the past two months more dining establishments have begun to focus on the business-side issues and changes to customer interaction brought on by chip cards.

PayPal's previous efforts to come to the physical point of sale about three years ago never managed to topple the entrenched payment methods. Now the company is taking another stab at it, securing an arrangement with Macy's Inc.

Strengthening its reputation as an innovator of mobile payment technology, Barclaycard says it will be the first financial services provider in the U.K. to launch a contactless payment app through Near Field Communication-enabled Android phones.

The age of the standalone wallet app, though still in its infancy, may already be making way for a new mobile payment regime.

Lloyds Banking Group has joined the list of U.K. banking companies that support Apple Pay.

Mobile payment and commerce technology provider Mozido has established a cross-border e-commerce payment connection between China and Russia, a project that resulted from its purchase of Beijing-based PayEase Corp. earlier this year.

Any EMV detractors saying the two-decade-old security against counterfeit cards has long passed its time are likely not aware of what the future has in store for the chip-based technology.

Banks and payment companies have been bearish on Bitcoin, but the virtual currency's underlying technology is growing in popularity and attracting investment.