David Heun

The push for faster payments in the U.S. has suffered from the lack of a government mandate, which in other countries resulted in a common, streamlined system. Now it's time for the disparate U.S. platforms to come together.

Now that consumers have come to accept metal cards, issuers are looking to do more with the format.

The payments industry is engaged in 40 active real-time payments programs worldwide, but it's not as chaotic as it sounds — except in the U.S.

Global Payments hopes to strengthen its position among restaurant merchant acquirers by paying $415 million in cash for food services and software company Sicom Systems.

Australians' love for contactless payments is driving the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group to incorporate mobile withdrawal technology to its ATM network.

If a merchant seeking to avoid credit card fees turned to cash discounting, it was at least partly because the other option — putting a surcharge on credit card use — was complicated and illegal in many states.

Terminal provider paycosmos has launched its "ISO in a Box" payment platform, saying the software provides everything an independent sales organization needs to support agents and acquire merchant contracts.

FirstSense's technology is designed to spot and prevent fraud as it happens. It will operate with First Data's fraud protection and transaction authorization engine, helping financial institutions identify payment cards at risk.

Merchants increasingly fall short of security standards as digital commerce innovation pressures risk management.

A week after revealing its Stripe Terminal as a way to enter the physical retail space, the online payments provider plans to add financial support through cash advances to the services it provides merchant clients.

The Face Login will enable users of the Paytm payment platform to log into the app simply by looking into their phones, a move designed to add a biometric layer to prevent phishing attacks.

Companies using First Data's payments network through unattended kiosks and other settings can now accept EMV payments through the ID Tech hardware and Worldnet software.

Stressing a need to address security in mobile payments and banking, ASC X9 has introduced a new standard — essentially part three of its wireless safety efforts, focusing on the management and security of mobile commerce implementations.

Participation by all members of the global payments ecosystem is encouraged through EMVCo's work to secure card-present transactions and incorporate broader applications.

The single-platform transfer is part of London-based Moneycorp's full integration of Commonwealth FX, a U.S.-based corporate international payments business it acquired at the start of the year —and part of a strategy to expand its U.S. market.

Stripe is making a Stripe Terminal available to its e-commerce clients, looking to unify online and physical point of sale payment streams.

South Korean cellular carrier LG Uplus, a unit of LG, says early next year it will launch a test of a blockchain-based overseas payment system.

Swedish financial services provider Klarna Bank has boosted its U.K. foothold by agreeing to buy merchant bankers Close Brothers' retail financing portfolio.

In its role as a security compliance and disaster recovery firm, Sungard Availability Services has seen merchants warming up to the Payment Card Industry data security standards.

Electronic payments processor Mobile Credit Payment has launched an app that allows small businesses to invoice customers through social media channels and accept various payment methods.