John Adams

Payments technology is rapidly changing, but so is the broader environment for retailers, creating a need for flexible and diverse payment acceptance options.

The tough move from free to fee for its readers has Square adjusting its strategy to lure merchants, but it also opens the door wider to new markets, according to CEO Jack Dorsey.

While Early Warning is continuing to recruit banks to participate in its risk management engine and clearXchange P-to-P network, it's also working with nonbanks to quickly expand its footprint.

The mega-banks behind Early Warning's clearXchange network provided a huge base to push the speedy processing necessary for digital payments—but even the biggest banks don't blanket the country as well as Visa and Mastercard.

Wells Fargo's embrace of Near Field Communication technology is rapidly approaching at least one milestone — a customer experience that does not require a card to use an ATM or pay in a store.

Swedish mobile payments company Seamless has steadily diversified the range of contactless payment technologies it supports in the hopes that it will be able to provide an entry-level platform for any financial institution's mobile wallet strategy.

HSBC may seem like an enthusiastic supporter of third-party wallets, taking the rare step of supporting Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. But these partnerships may prove to be mere stepping stones for a much bigger mobile strategy.

Square will enable sellers to make daily bank deposits, adding another in a series of merchant-focused perks designed to diversify revenue streams and sweeten the company's appeal to businesses.

There may be bumps along the way, but PayPal, Mastercard and Visa all share the same goal, according to Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga.

Square will enable sellers to make daily bank deposits, adding another in a series of merchant-focused perks designed to diversify revenue streams and sweeten the company's appeal to businesses.

There may be bumps along the way, but PayPal, Mastercard and Visa all share the same goal, according to Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga.

Companies that rely on the U.K. as an easy portal to Europe or a bridge between Europe and North America stand to face serious challenges and are suddenly thrust into a big set of unknowns.

TSYS is beginning to integrate its $2.4 billion acquisition of TransFirst, an initiative the Columbus, Ga.-based processor hopes will substantially extend its ability to serve merchants in the high-pressure arena of multichannel commerce.

Apple plans to enable Apple Pay on its Safari Web browser by this fall, enabling users to make purchases directly from websites, but its vision for taking Apple Pay to the Web does not seem to extend much further.

E-commerce carries the promise of transactions without borders or brick and mortar, but it's still a challenge to enter a new market, according to WePay CEO Bill Clerico.

The marriage of in-store shopping, online ordering and mobile commerce is happening just as fast for retailers as it is for consumers.

A year from now, Sionic Mobile will have distributed 100,000 free iBeacons to small businesses, a $1 million marketing play the company hopes secures its place among local stores as they start to adopt mobile technologies.

Visa plans to open a facility in Palo Alto, Calif., the latest in a series of technology-focused facilities designed to cement the card brand's role in the world of payments innovation.

Visa and PayPal have been at war for as long as PayPal has existed, and their recent cease-fire could allow both companies to overcome the barriers they have spent years building between the worlds of digital and in-store payments.

Visa and PayPal have been at war for as long as PayPal has existed, and their recent cease fire could allow both companies to overcome the barriers they have spent years building between the worlds of digital and in-store payments.