David Heun

The original iPhone revolutionized consumer technology and breathed life into the market for mobile payments — but the newest iPhone's most futuristic feature may signal a growing problem for banks and card networks.

Bad guys are very good at sharing technology and systems that work with other criminal networks — and payments companies can suffer if they embrace the same technology without realizing how it is being exploited.

The payments industry has a significant security challenge on its hands as too many consumers become "chronic oversharers" of their personal and payment card data, says Ellen Richey, chief enterprise risk officer for Visa Inc.

Visa plans to include more data in its advanced authorization technology to better protect banks' gas station clients.

The PCI council continues to expand its reach, with the intent of remaining a strong guide for data security well into the future.

Building on a new mobile payment gateway that MasterCard developed for Egypt, an Egyptian bank last week launched the Phone Cash mobile wallet for consumers.

The various stakeholders in the U.S. payments system may need to put their differences aside to stay relevant as technology advances. But whether wide-scale collaboration is practical — or even possible — is open to debate.

Terrorists have put a bulls-eye on the U.S. financial system, including payments infrastructure, as a target that fits in with their plans to cripple the country's economy, says Juan C. Zarate, senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The assault on cash in India will continue through a new wallet offering from Mobikwik.

Corethree Ltd. has added Barclays' Pingit mobile checkout option to its mobile wallet for transportation services.

Afrocoin Mobile Money is launching a service that allows mobile phone users to send money to family members in Africa.

WorldPay US has entered an agreement to purchase Century Payments, building on a four-year partnership between the two payments companies.

As the U.S. payments industry advances in its migration to EMV-chip cards, some merchants perceive the EMV push as "a giant head-fake" to establish a foundation for mobile payments based on Near Field Communication technology.

As payments technology evolves, some are urging the Federal Reserve Board to take a leadership role in establishing guidelines and standards — whereas others are quick to argue against the notion.

The U.S. payments system must continue its push to overcome the challenges inherent in creating a near real-time retail payment option, says Sandra Pianalto, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

London-based electronic payments provider Ixaris will target the Middle East payments market through a partnership with e-commerce software provider 3omlti.

Consumers aren't letting go of their debit cards just yet, but an improving economy is motivating some of them to dust off their credit cards, MasterCard Inc. says.

U.S. banks and merchants face many obstacles in preparing for EMV chip-based cards at the point of sale — and the Web is no less reluctant to change.

Singapore-based F1Soft International will provide online and mobile money transfer software to Bangladesh Commerce Bank to help customers seeking ways to send money to family members in other countries.

The Isis Mobile Wallet initiative has suffered a setback with Capital One and Barclays pulling out of current testing, but the Isis venture has just as many issuers staying on to fuel its upcoming nationwide launch.