David Heun

Banks should be in the forefront of a payments world moving toward mobile commerce, according to Monitise CEO Alastair Lukies.

Monitise PLC officially completed its acquisition of Clairmail Inc. on June 26, the mobile banking and payments providers announced.

That the card brands and security vendors increased their number of technology patent filings in the wake of a major credit card data breach in 2007 is no coincidence.

Each day, the payments industry receives signals that consumers are happier using a contactless card system to pay transit fares than they are using the cards in stores.

Somehow, the developers of O2's mobile wallet found a small village in Wales that did not have even one cash machine available for its 11,000 residents. O2 gave the village a "money makeover."

Not to be outdone by other card brands or mobile network operators, MasterCard Worldwide and PrePay Solutions plan to launch a Mobile PayPass prepaid account for smartphones in a few months.

It may soon get a lot easier to take payment systems designed for the information superhighway and use them on real-world streets, according to a Canadian company that specializes in parking transactions.

If consumers embrace a system in which they pay for coffee at Starbucks with their smartphones, will they do the same for Whoppers at Burger King?

PayPal is done taking baby steps. It revealed 15 new national retailers that will eventually accept PayPal payments, as well as numerous agreements with terminal makers and other vendors to increase PayPal's presence as an option in brick-and-mortar stores.

A European mobile wallet venture led by telecommunications operators has run into a setback with regulators.

In the wake of the news of Global Payments' breach last month, some are asking processors to tighten security and accept more risk.

Intuit has purchased the mobile commerce provider AisleBuyer.

M-Via has added free ATM cash withdrawals to its fee structure for Boom, a service for the unbanked to manage monetary accounts through mobile phones, the mobile-payment network provider announced March 27.

Targeting the consumer market more squarely with a rebranded card case.

Industry debates centering on the eventual U.S. conversion to the EMV chip-card standard have paid little attention to whether consumers understand their liability when using the new card format.

Phoenix Managed Networks says its software addresses card data security in a retail market where technology has expanded much faster than most merchants can grasp.

Cloud-based compliance and data-security provider Trustwave soon will add Web security to its portfolio through the acquisition of M86 Security, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of advanced antimalware technology.

Visa Europe plans to acquire a 15% minority stake in mobile retail payments provider Mobile Money Network Ltd., the European payment system provider announced March 7.

The complexities of enabling U.S. merchants to accept contactless smart cards and various mobile-payment technologies represent a significant revenue opportunity for VeriFone, the company says.

Citing the completion of its acquisition of Swedish payments provider Point, VeriFone posted a 40.4% increase in fiscal first quarter year-over-year earnings.