David Heun

Investors on occasion are willing to roll the dice, but more often they support companies with potential for a powerful first step in the marketplace. They do not place Near Field Communication payments technology in either category.

As new mobile-wallet systems appear and old ones fade, many are asking who will win the “mobile wallet wars.” According to the mobile-pay venture Isis, there may never be a clear winner.

This week marks the first time incentives take effect for merchants to accept EMV chip-card payments in the U.S., and although many are on that path, there is still plenty of confusion over where payments technology is ultimately heading.

Investors and payment-industry participants declared the recent partnership between Discover Financial Services and PayPal Inc. a game-changer in payments. But will consumers agree?

It’s called Ventra and it’s going to allow Chicago commuters to make tap-and-go contactless card payments throughout the city’s transit system next summer.

Because Google Inc. stubbed its public relations toe earlier this year when a security firm “hacker” was able to gain access to the Google Wallet’s secure element in a smartphone and steal or wipe out PINs, it was no surprise the company made the leap to store card data in the cloud.

It may not take long for a mobile phone carrier to start looking and acting like a bank for consumers seeking to use their phones to make payments or borrow money.

Global Payments Inc. is banking on a recent acquisition in the health care market and involvement in the Discover Financial Services and PayPal Inc. partnership to help eventually offset a 26% tumble in first quarter income for fiscal 2013 because of the security breach it endured last March.

Teaming up with PayPal is consistent with other Discover Financial Services agreements that stress the card brand’s payments strategy of being “the most flexible partner for a number of other players,” Discover Chairman and CEO David Nelms says.

The telecommunications companies behind the Isis mobile wallet joint venture have had Salt Lake City in their sights as a testing ground for the past year. But recent delays in the Isis rollout have opened the door for direct competitor Google Wallet to continue to gain as much momentum as possible with its mobile pay system.

The date for U.S. merchants to start benefiting from preparing early for EMV smart card technology at the point of sale lurks next week. Unfortunately, the future of payments technology won’t come into clearer focus for merchants that quickly.

Spire Payments will partner with technology investor Newland Computers in developing future products and rolling out a new line of point-of-sale terminals.

Barclaycard U.S. has hired a new chief financial officer and chief marketing officer to its executive team.

Payments processor and security provider The Members Group will host a complimentary webinar addressing emerging payment technologies for financial institutions from 1 to 2 p.m. CDT on Sept. 27.

The advancement of mobile payment technology and how it correlates to the EMV conversion timelines in the U.S. was one of many topics attendees discussed at the first EMV Migration Forum meeting in mid-September.

The Catbird PCI Solution Guide, co-published with cloud software provider VMware Inc., is an auditor-reviewed reference to help organizations interpret updated PCI DSS requirements as they relate to cloud-based systems.

Groupon's new payments system is a small step toward a dramatic change in merchant acquiring, one that leaves ownership of consumer data up for grabs.

A former Google. mobile wallet executive has joined the online and mobile payments provider Braintree.

Compared to the U.S., many countries in Africa have a less developed financial services and payments ecosystem — but are far ahead in mobile payments adoption.

The payments industry has taken it upon itself to police any entity that accepts credit or debit cards — even when that entity is the police.