David Heun

Overall, merchants are doing a reliable job of fighting back the onslaught of e-commerce fraud, but there are some places where the defenses have dramatically broken down.

The Payment Card Industry security standards council's PCI 3.0 revision, revealed in January, adds requirements that take effect at the end of June, putting unprepared merchants at risk of fines if they suffer a breach.

Walmart is partnering with Alipay, the payments affiliate of Alibaba Group to accept mobile payments in 25 stores in Shenzen with the goal of having it available in all 410 Walmart stores in China by the end of the year.

With more patients paying part or all of their health care expenses directly, health care providers find themselves thrust into the world of consumer payments and collections, where providers face different costs, risks and expectations than they did working primarily with insurance companies.

Rumors of an alliance between China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba and Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant Apple are heating up again — and are coming from a very high-placed source.

Square Inc. says it has received more funding for its Square Capital program, which grants loans to Square merchants based on their transaction history.

Card networks have built their legacy on transporting payments and consumer data, and over time the data itself has become far more complex.

Global Payments will launch the OptBlue program in Canada in early summer, the first acquirer/processor to use the American Express program to adjust Amex card pricing for Canadian merchants.

As more U.S. banks issue EMV-chip credit and debit cards, consumer education remains a challenge, particularly if consumers overlook the paper inserts that come with their new cards.

Opening the door for banks to offer non-branded PIN debit cards and even mobile wallets, the Debit Network Alliance is developing its own application identifier for routing transactions from EMV-chip cards.

Google's Android may have more smartphones in circulation, but Apple's iPhone is responsible for the bulk of the spending from mobile wallets.

Payments technology tester and certifier Fime will serve a one-year term to represent the technical associates program on the EMVCo board of advisors.

While PayPal deals with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau probes related to its consumer credit products, one of the company's founders is forging ahead with a company he created to develop its own consumer credit service for e-commerce.

In theory, all parties benefit when consumers have their choice of payment options, but the deluge of new technologies has led issuers to respond in ways that could create lasting frustration for consumers and merchants.

The Weve joint venture is breaking up, with Telefonica O2 buying out the U.K. telcos that joined it four years ago in planning a country-wide mobile payment system.

Visa Europe plans to increase V.me digital wallet use this year by getting more U.K. issuers and retailers involved in the online payment service.

Visa Europe would like to be where Apple Inc. is — at least in terms of its technology and product development.

Data security organizations have developed an EMV chip-card education program to help independent sales organizations and software vendors simplify testing and certification for their merchant clients.

If banks and retailers want a piece of the mobile wallet pie that Apple Pay is steadily gobbling up, Nacha says it has a formula to achieve that.

Bindo is providing merchants using its iPad-based point of sale software an entry into e-commerce.