David Heun

Former Walmart payments executive Reed Luhtanen has been named the new executive director of the U.S. Faster Payments Council, an organization created a year ago to guide American faster payments initiatives.

Former NetSpend CEO Dan Henry has been named as the CEO of Green Dot, the Pasadena, Calif.-based prepaid card issuer and banking company.

It's still unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will alter payment habits over time — will consumers avoid cash out of fear of germs, or will they favor it as the one payment option that nearly all merchants accept? An impending change in interchange rates may tip the scales in cash's favor.

As coronavirus forces most shopping to occur online, merchants will likely see their product return policies tested by both good customers and the unsavory ones who abuse those policies for profit.

The payments industry bridges many markets — including technology and finance — that haven't always demonstrated diversity at their highest ranks. Things are changing, and this year's Most Influential Women in Payments honorees demonstrate the importance of women to all aspects of the payments industry and all corners of the globe.

Payments technology provider Fiserv is acquiring independent software vendor Bypass Mobile to boost its multi-channel capabilities for sports, entertainment and restaurant verticals.

With coronavirus taking a significant chunk out of physical retail and services, the use of call centers and phone interaction with customers becomes even more important.

Digital fraud protection provider Kount has launched a security layer designed to prevent account takeover.

Digital financial technology provider Wirecard AG is partnering with Grab to process transactions from the GrabPay e-wallet in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Just two months after UnionPay bolstered its support of QR code payments in China through an arrangement with Tencent Holdings Ltd., the company is working with Network International to initiate its first pilot for QR code payments at a merchant location in the UAE.

Payments software company SpotOn Transact has completed a $50 million funding round that included investments from 01 Advisors, a firm founded by former Twitter executives.

Following the lead of open banking regulation in Europe, payments technology provider Elavon is working with Nuapay in the U.K. to provide account-to-account payment setups for its merchant clients.

Artificial intelligence has given merchants and banks handling payment data a fighting chance against fraud because it essentially pits machine against machine in compiling data and establishing prevention algorithms.

Mobile financial network provider Rapyd is embedding its open development tools with Brazilian processors to support payments in any local method.

The Reserve Bank of India has temporarily halted operations at the struggling Yes Bank, leaving fintechs without a place to process payments.

Companies that give employees early access to earned pay don't want to be lumped in with payday lenders, so they are putting a new spin on their pitch: It's a tool to lure and retain valuable workers.

Even though health care payment providers have more digital payment options than ever, there still is a tough hurdle to overcome: Patients don't always trust the medical provider or insurance company to provide accurate bills.

For the past decade, the drive for modern restaurant point-of-sale terminals and software has turned into a highly competitive race seeking new looks and ideas.

Customer interaction platform Podium has added a Payments feature, allowing businesses to use text messaging to accept funds directly from customers.

With the world gripped in panic over the rapid spread of the coronavirus — and the stock market falling in response — payments companies have been left to speculate on what it all means to their operations in an increasingly global economy.