John Adams

MasterCard has agreed to purchase Opus Software's electronic payment and card technology subsidiary ElectraCard Services.

Host Card Emulation technology, which allows mobile devices to emulate a secure Near Field Communication transaction, is catching on fast so fast that it would be unwise for any company to ignore it, says ABNote CEO Steven Singer.

U.S. banks and other companies may already be closer to EMV compliance than they realize, says Mansour Karimzadeh, managing director and chief technology officer of payment consultant and technology company SCIL.

Loyalty programs can be a challenge because in Brazil's anti-coupon culture. Pizza Hut is overcoming this hurdle with a combined loyalty and prepaid card.

Italian payments technology company TAS Group is approaching U.S. issuers with a product called e-Mission that takes aim at two growing payment trends in the country: EMV-chip cards and instant issuance.

When Ben Milne was running a manufacturing company in Iowa, "you could not get around credit card fees," he recalls.

Zipremit is planning a service that will enable merchants to accept payments and extend credit to consumers who don't want to use a credit card account.

The card manufacturer ABnote is working with SimplyTapp, a Near Field Communication technology provider, to support Host Card Emulation tech in a jointly developed product.

Bluetooth-based beacons, which detect when customers enter a merchant's store, will dramatically change how businesses manage identity, payments and customer engagement, said Patrick Gauthier, PayPal's head of emerging services.

The U.S. EMV migration is high stakes, complicated and probably won't get done on time to meet the deadlines set by the card networks, according to Vantiv's Patty Walters.

Bima plans to use its latest funding to get more people in emerging markets to obtain insurance by making it possible to pay their insurance premiums on mobile phones.

As more merchants demand mobile technology to accept payments in their stores, vendors like Total System Services must diversify their offerings.

BMO's changes to how it organizes treasury and corporate payments can help it streamline client sales and payments product bundling.

European companies aren't using credit cards much for payments, which may give Wells Fargo a chance to establish a presence as a corporate issuer.

Digital payments company Payfort, which is based in Dubai, is using local merchant networks and consumers' own homes to enable more travel payments.

Stockpile is selling what it describes as a new twist on gift cards. Instead of offering a card or a voucher, the startup allows consumers to give an investment in a publicly traded company.

Online apparel retailer Cory Vines positions itself as an alternative to much larger chains, so deciding to accept Bitcoin was a logical step. It also helps that its customers want to pay with the digital currency.

Total Systems Services (TSYS) is partnering with ShopKeep POS to extend the processor's range of mobile and tablet-based point of sale offerings.

Vending machine technology companies Byndl and USA Technologies are partnering to provide cross-channel marketing and customer service through mobile devices.

Google is testing a way to use its Wallet on Google Glass through verbal commands, according to a report by TechCrunch.