David Heun

Quick service restaurant and other small business owners are warming up to new technology, giving Verifone and Paysafe a chance to sell their collaborative payment products.

A motivating speech from a female executive at the Ogilvy ad agency 15 years ago helped steer Denise Pickett to new heights at American Express. As did having a family willing to move to the U.S. from Canada.

To accomplish what she has in her 10-year tenure with Mastercard, Dana J. Lorberg simply had to be two things: "I am a programmer and a girl geek."

Ask Carleigh Jaques to build a new digital payments system, and there's a very good chance she'll turn to her "inner architect" and deliver the goods. After all, the senior vice president and global head of digital products for Visa has designed and built three houses — in her spare time.

In a 26-year career at Discover Financial Services, it would seem that Amy Parsons has earned the title of a "doctor" of payments.

To hear Archie Puri tell it, the technology changing the payments market is every bit as dramatic as laser eye surgery is to someone with poor vision.

This year, as PaymentsSource honors The Most Influential Women in Payments, a new pattern has emerged. This year's list recognizes the contributions of entrepreneurs who took their ideas directly to market, showcasing new ways of handling business in an industry that is forced to quickly adapt to rapid changes in technology and global culture.

Against the backdrop that is the contentious immigration debate in the U.S., Louise Pentland can say she has a passion and firsthand experience for improving the lives of those navigating the process of being accepted into this country.

The many fintech startups that burst on the scene to compete with Western Union or MoneyGram are morphing into something else — white label providers for companies running on dated infrastructure.

Total System Services is implementing software at Walmart and Sam's Club locations nationwide to link loyalty rewards to health care payments, while also recognizing qualified purchases from a consumer's health plan.

Long after e-commerce removed the biggest obstacles preventing U.S. merchants from selling internationally, there are still untapped pockets of opportunity.

Because cash remains a staple for customers at many businesses, a service like Total Armored Car cash delivery continues to be important to managing cash flow. But how companies go about ordering a cash delivery at Total Armored hasn't changed in decades — until now.

Though the Merchant Customer Exchange failed to deliver a consumer-facing mobile wallet for its mega-retailer backers, Buy It Mobility Networks (BIM) says the underlying technology it provided is still sound.

After stubbing its toe in Norway, Denmark's Danske Bank is seeking Finnish bank partners to help boost its MobilePay service as a payment method at nearly one thousand S Group grocery stores.

Square burst on the payments scene nine years ago with a card reader that allowed small merchants to accept plastic card payments through their mobile devices. Its Square Cash app received considerably less fanfare — until now.

The network says more than $100 billion in Swift GPI payment messages are sent daily, enabling payments to be credited to the end beneficiaries within minutes — and some within seconds.

Backed by the Clover platform, merchants using the devices can manage their businesses in real-time over an online backend portal that can be accessed from a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Consumers aren't leaving without paying, but are paying through an app that avoids the point of sale.

Banks and cardholders will be able to verify purchases, increase credit limit, add cards immediately, provide feedback to retailers, receive on-demand coupons, or upgrade card benefits.

American Express claims its rules allow it to better compete against other major card networks. The complaining states view anti-card steering rules as a way to block other networks from offering lower fees, thus resulting in retailers raising prices for consumers.